Love Letter From Thief
by Lexy3643
Summary: Faye's world turns upside down when she's forced to become a black fox. she has to find all three of her gramp's paintings but what will she do when the mafia also want one of her gramp's inventions that could kill so many people? this story is based on the game, i have re-written parts of the game and merged different stories from different characters into one
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"Faye! Faye!"

Someone's calling my name… Who is it? Was I dreaming?

"Faye, it's me."

"Gramps?"

It was my great-grandfather, who died when I was 10 years old.

"Faye. Faye." He kept saying.

"What? What do you want?" I asked.

I opened my eyes I was led in bed in my apartment. Why was I dreaming about Gramps? I never dream about him.

I looked over at my alarm clock, it was nearly 7am. It was time to get ready for work. I got out of bed, I had a shower, had breakfast and got dressed. After I dried my hair off, I went over to my jewelry box, the morning light glinted off my ring. The ring was given to me by Gramps not long before he died.

Maybe I'll wear it today, I wondered how long it had been since I last wore it?

I went straight to work. It was a busy day.

"Phew, there sure was a lot of visitors today." I said to myself as I gazed at a display case.

Inside the case, was a 11th century solid-gold tiara. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

The alarm then started buzzing.

Huh? Was someone breaking in? I needed to call the police!

I started running when I saw two guys dressed in black holding a painting.

"Hey!" I shouted and skidded to a stop. "Who are you? Put that painting back right now."

"Oh, there's still someone working!" One of the men said surprised.

"Let's get outta here!" The other said.

"Hey! Wait! Stop you thieves!" I shouted.

Just as I started to chase after them, I bumped right into a display case. It began to wobble and a huge bronze statue started to fall towards me.

"Watch out!" One of the man shouted.

One of the thieves grabbed the statue and stopped it from falling onto me.

"Ugh. This is heavy. What is it?" He asked.

"A bronze statue from the Makonde tribe of Africa." I answered.

I was so shocked I just stared at him, he had just saved me but why? Surely if the statue had landed on me, they could have escaped from me easily. The lights were so bright I couldn't see their faces.

"Makonde tribe? What's the Makonde tribe?" He asked.

"Hey! Now's not the time!" The second man shouted.

"She's the one that freaked out and crashed into the display case! Well, I'm just glad you're not hurt." The first one said.

"Thank you but you need to give me the painting back." I demanded.

The second man patted me on the head.

"Sorry we scared ya!" He said.

What was with these guys? They were the strangest thieves I had ever met.

"Since you're being so polite, why don't you return the painting?" I asked.

"Haha! Sorry, can't do that." He said.

"Hey! You!" The first one shouted and grabbed my wrist.

"What? Get off me." I shouted.

"Why do you have this ring?" He asked.

Why did he want to know about my ring?

Just then, police sirens could be heard outside.

"It's the black foxes! They're the black foxes!" A policeman shouted.

"The black foxes?!" I gasped.

"That's a nice ring." The first man said.

He still had hold of my wrist.

"See ya later." The second man said before they both disappeared.

The police arrived, I was interviewed before me and my best friend Ranko went to a restaurant for dinner.

"Aren't the black foxes the ring of thieves who supposedly steal for the greater good? They're all over the TV and the internet lately. But I didn't think the black foxes really existed. I thought it was just an urban legend." She said.

"I wonder if the thieves really were part of the black foxes." I said.

They didn't act like thieves at all, the guys seemed generally good guys. One even saved me from being crushed. It was weird.

"Did you see their faces?" She asked.

"No." I answered.

"Aw man! I'd have the scoop of the century if you'd seen their faces, Faye!" She said.

Ranko was a newspaper reporter.

"Huh? Awww. You're all out of pork noodles?" A loud voice said in the restaurant.

There was a cute man with blonde hair stood at the counter, he wore a grey hoodie and blue shirt.

"We just sold the last one." A waiter said.

Hm? They had some when I ordered which means, I ordered the last one.

Hm. Oh well.

"Ugg. I came here just to eat those pork noodles too!" The man said angrily.

I ignored him and continued eating.

"Hey." He said.

"Yes?" I asked.

"You got pork noodles! Can you not look at me while you're eating? It's annoying." He snapped.

What was with this guy?

"Uh you spoke to me." I pointed out.

Another young man then appeared "I'm sorry. He really has a foul mouth."

He had bright ginger hair and was looked quite cute as well.

"Hey! Two girls and two guys... why don't we eat together?" He asked.

"Sure!" Ranko instantly said.

"Thanks. C'mon Takkun, sit down." The man said.

The rude guy frowned as he sat across from me.

"What's your name?" Ranko asked them.

"Me?" The second man asked. "My name is Hiro. What were you guys talking about just now? I heard' Black Foxes'."

"We were just wondering if they really exist." Rank answered.

"The ring of thieves just like Robin Hood, right?" Hiro asked.

"They don't steal for profit, instead they return illegally obtained works of art to their rightful owners. That's why I heard they steal." Ranko said.

"It'd be pretty cool if they were real, huh?" Hiro asked.

"Not really. They're still criminals." I said.

"Are you dumb?" The rude guy said.

"Excuse me?" I asked.

"I heard that the museum got the painting that was stolen from the mafia in a black market deal." He said.

"Yes, I had heard that rumour." I said.

"You're pretty stupid for someone who works at a museum." He said.

"And you're very rude." I shouted back.

"Shut up! Stop yelling at everything." He shouted back.

We then both glared at each other in silence.

What was this guy's problem? But wait, how did they know that I worked at the museum?

"Takkun, stop being so mean to her. She's my soulmate!" Hiro beamed.

He reached out both of his hands and softly cupped them over mine.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Wow.. That's a lovely ring." He said.

"Thanks." I said and pulled my hands away from him.

Who were these guys?

After dinner, I headed home. I was so tired, I couldn't wait to get a cup of tea and go to bed. I went to get my mail before I headed up the stairs. I had some flyers, gas bill, coupons and letter. I opened it up and it read,

"We're coming to get you tonight. The black foxes."

Huh? What was this? Some kind of prank?

Ugh, how annoying.

I threw the card away with the junk mail and went upstairs to my apartment. I turned the light on and made myself a cup of tea. I sipped my tea, the hot liquid soothed my throat.

What a weird day I had today, I had met so many strange people.

As I stood there, suddenly someone came up behind and pressed a hand against my mouth and held me against their body. They made me jump that I dropped my tea.

"Shh! I'm not going to hurt you. Just be quiet!" They whispered in my ear.

I bite the person's finger as hard as I could.

"Oww!"

The man released me and I moved forwards.

"Hey. I have teeth marks, you bit me way too hard." He said.

"You're pretty violent, huh?" A second person asked.

I recognised that voice, it was Hiro from the restaurant.

"Hey! You're the guy from the bar!"

"I can't believe you bit him! Are you a girl or a dog?" A third person asked.

"Wait, you're one of the criminals from the museum." I stated.

He was the one who saved me from being crushed.

I finally realised what was going on, that letter I got was real. These guys were here to kidnap me!

"Be quiet! Anyway, we're not criminals. We're thieves." He shouted.

"Aren't they the same thing? Anyway, what do you want with me?"

"We're after this." Hiro said and held up Gramps ring.

"Hey, that's mine. Give it back." I ordered. "It's the only thing I have left of my great grandfather."

"I propose a trade." The third man said.

"A trade?"

"If you want the ring back, you have to come with us QUIETLY." He said.

"If I want it back? You're the ones who stole it."

"Be quite!" The man that I bit shouted.

I then felt someone hard press into my back. What was it? A gun?

"Don't worry." The man I bit whispered in my ear. "We won't do anything reckless."

These guys were crazy! But did I have a choice? They had a gun!

At gunpoint, I was taken to the bar that I was at earlier. Was this the Black Foxes' hideout? The bar was completely empty.

"Hey! You're the rude guy from before." I said as I was pushed through the door.

What was his name? Takkun?

"Shut up, Pork Noodle girl." He sneered.

"What kind of nickname is that?" I asked.

"Leave her alone, let's just explain everything to her." One of my kidnappers said.

"You shut up too, leader!" Takkun shouted.

He was the leader? He was the guy that saved me from being crushed by the statue.

"Well, if it isn't Faye." Someone else said.

It was a middle ages man with mid length brown hair, glasses and a small beard on his chin.

"We finally meet after all this time." He said.

"Um.. Do I know you?" I asked.

"I'm the Boss of the Black Foxes. I guess." He said.

For a boss, he didn't seem too sure of himself.

"What do you want from me? Why did you bring me here?" I asked.

"Your ring." He said.

"My ring? Why are you guys so obsessed with my ring?" I asked.

When the guys took me from my apartment, Hiro had given me back my ring. I had placed it back on my finger.

"You got it from your great-grandfather, right?" He asked.

"Yes. How did you know that?" I asked.

"Your great-grandfather was a great artist and inventor." He said.

"Yes but he died when I was 10 so I don't know much about him." I said.

"Hmm.. So you don't know how amazing his creations are."

"Pretty cold for someone who's supposed to be his grandkid." Takkun said.

"I suppose you could say he was the Japanese Leonardo Da Vinci." Boss said.

He was really that important? When I was young, I would spend hours drawing with him in his study. He painted such lovely things, I would love watching him work.

"But many of his valuable creations and inventions have fallen into the wrong hands. And we're stealing them back to recover them." Boss said.

"Recover them?"

"His creations and inventions. We can't stand the bad guys profiting from them." He said.

"Ok but.. What does that have to do with me?" I asked.

"He left behind one last masterpiece." He said.

"And we need you to help us get it." The man I bit said.

"Me?"

"Yes, we've been looking for you for a long time. And thanks to that ring, we found you." He said.

"Soo.. You're after the ring?" I asked. "In that case, I could lend it to you for a while as long as I get back."

"No, that's not it." The leader said.

He grabbed my wrist.

"We want your fingerprints. We need your fingerprints to find his creation." He said.

What the hell? I was so confused. So all they needed were my fingerprints? They didn't need to kidnap me to do this, they could have just asked me nicely and I would have agreed.

"Anyway, it's time to celebrate. Because you're about to become a black fox." The leader said with a smile.

"Wait, what? No." I said.

"Shut up!" He shouted and then pointed a gun at me. "If you won't join us, we can't let you get away. It's too dangerous now that you've seen our faces."

I froze.

"Are you threatening me?" I asked.

They were holding me hostage!

"If you work with us to recover your great-grandfather's work, you can return to life as normal." He said.

And if I say no, he'd kill me? I didn't have much of a choice.

"You need my fingerprints, that's fine. But I don't want to become a criminal." I said.

"Not criminal. Thief." Hiro said firmly.

"Regardless... I don't want to do anything illegal!"

"We're not committing crimes, we're setting things right." The leader said.

"Well.. Faye is just a regular girl. No wonder she gets scared when she hears the word thief." Hiro said.

"Don't worry. We won't make you steal anything. Just join us, ok?" The man I bit said tenderly.

"Not like we really expect much out of you anyway." Takkun said.

"So.. All I have to do is join you?" I asked.

"If you're gonna be a pain in the ass, why don't we just cut off her finger?" Takkun asked with a sinister smile.

I glared at him. Even though they were holding a gun at me and threatening me, they didn't seem dangerous. They could have hurt me or tied me up rather than giving me the option to join them. In fact, it would be easier for them to just tie me up in a room till they needed me. I'm sure that Takkun was just trying to scare me.

"Hmm. All right, then who's going to be Faye's babysitter?" Boss asked.

"Babysitter? I don't need a babysitter."

"I'm afraid you do. We need you, so we don't want anything to happen to you. So someone will be your partner and stay by your side to take care of you." He said.

More like spy on me.

"All of us are pretty good guys you know, but there's no telling what could happen if you try to get in the way. So, who's it gonna be?" Boss asked.

I had to choose?

"Better choose carefully, if you're gonna be a burden I won't take it." Takkun said.

I wouldn't choose him if my life depended on it!


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

A few days later, I walked into the Le Rendard Noir restaurant. I was still under their surveillance.

"Hello." I said to Boss who was stood behind the bar.

"Welcome! Checking in again today, huh? What a good girl." He said.

"Um yeah, because I was threatened that something terrible would happen to me if I didn't come here every day." I replied and sat at the bar.

"Oh yeah, well we didn't have a choice. You refused to have one of us look after you." He said.

That's because I didn't want a stranger to watch me 24-7.

The day I was kidnapped by them, they asked me to choose and I refused so we made a deal. If I reported here every day and came whenever I was summoned, there wouldn't be a problem.

After I had refused to have any of them babysit me, boss wanted to celebrate me join them and everyone got drunk. We all drank and ate food, it was the most strangest thing. They all acted so casual as if nothing had happened. Takuto was a pain in the ass, so annoying. That evening, before we all drank too much he took me to the basement of the Le Rendard Noir, there were computers and shelves filled with files and boxes.

"What is this place?" I asked.

"Gimme your cell phone." He said.

"Why?" I asked.

"Just give it to me!" He snapped and held out his hand.

I got it out from my pocket and roughly handed it to him, making sure I hit his hand hard.

"This model. Huh.." He said.

He glanced at my phone before connecting it to a nearby cord.

"What are you.." I began.

A window popped up on the computer screen in front of me, he then began typing something at a ridiculous speed.

Whoa. I had never seen anyone type that fast.

"Here." He said and gave it back to me.

"What did you do to it?" I asked.

"I reprogrammed it." He said.

"To do what?" I asked.

"Nothing.." He said with a suspicious smile on his face. "We're done here, you can go now." He said.

"Gladly." I said and left.

I joined the others in drinking before I was allowed to go back home.

So here I was, stuck in this horrible situation.

"At least you can take one of my handmade good luck charms to protect you?" Boss offered as he placed a cup of tea in front of me.

"I'll pass."

"That's cold, I thought we were friends!"

"So.. When do you think you'll need my fingerprints?" I asked.

"Mmm.. Sooner or later." He said vaguely.

"That's pretty vague. Can't you be more specific?" I asked.

"Haha! Just relax. When the time comes, I'll let you know. Ok?"

"Why are you making a peace sign?" I asked.

Just then my phone started to ring.

"Hello? Tatsuro?" I asked.

"Hey. I haven't talked to you in forever. How are you?" He asked.

"I'm fine, what's up?"

"I'm just by your apartment and I was wondering if you'd like to eat lunch together?"

"Sure! Let's meet at the train station." I said.

It had been a long time since I had seen Tatsuro, he was a friend from my childhood. One of my best friends.

"I'll be there in twenty minutes. See you then." I said and hung up.

"Tatsuro... was that Tatsuro Togoshi? Your childhood friend?" Boss asked looking concerned.

"Yeah. Were you eavesdropping?" I asked.

"I wasn't eavesdropping. I overheard."

I glared at him "It's the same thing."

"C'mon now. Don't get mad. He's a police detective right? And up until recently, he was training with the FBI."

"How did you know that?" I asked.

"It's easy enough to find out. We have an intelligence expert."

He was referring to Takuto.

"Well, just so you know.. You better not tell your detective friend anything unnecessary. Because if you do, we'll have to take care of him and I really don't want to go to all that trouble though, ok?"

I only nodded.

"Anyway, I'm going. Bye." I said and stood up.

"Be careful, make sure you come back here tonight." He said.

"What? Why?" I asked.

"Because I said so but we're friends right?" He asked laughing.

This was turning into a hopeless situation, I just hoped that they needed my fingerprints soon. I couldn't wait to get back to my normal life.

I went straight to the train station, Tatsuro was already waiting for me.

"Hey you!" He beamed.

"Hey!" I beamed back and hugged him.

"It's been ages. What do you wanna eat?" He asked. "I'll treat you."

"Really? How about friend shrimp katsudon?" I asked.

"Big eater as always huh?" He asked.

We went to a dinner together and sat down.

"Is this dinner ok? Or should we go to a nice place?" He asked.

"I don't care where we eat, as long as we get food. Here comes the waiter." I said.

"Ok, so you'd like one order of spaghetti and a large order of shrimp katsudon with two soft drinks." The waiter said.

"Yep!" I said.

"Ok, I'll get your order in right away." He said and left.

Tatsuro kept smiling at me.

"What you smiling at?" I asked.

"I'm pretty sure he thought the katsudon was mine." He said.

"Really?"

"Definitely. You wanna bet on it?"

"Sure. If I win.."

I thought for a moment.

"Haha." He burst out laughing.

"Why are you laughing?" I asked.

"Cuz you have such a serious look on your face." He said.

"Hey, I might as well ask for something I really want."

"Ooh. So you think you're gonna win, huh? How about a ticket to the Mesopotamia exhibit at the national art museum?"

"Seriously? Ok and if you win.."

"You can pay next time we go out for drinks." He said.

"Sure." I agreed and held out my hand and we shook on it.

The waiter soon arrived.

"Sorry for the wait! Here's your shrimp Katsudon and spaghetti." He said.

We both remained silent as the waiter gave me the spaghetti and Tatsuro the Katsudon.

"Ok, let's switch." He said and moved our plates.

"Is it really that weird that I'd order this?" I asked.

"No but there aren't many girls who would order a large portion." He said.

I just shrugged and happily started eating. I really needed this, it was so nice being out with him. Everything had been so rubbish the last few days, I needed to be cheered up.

"Oh I'm stuffed. That was sooo goood!" I said.

"You sure ate a lot." He laughed.

"Yeah, I was starving."

"So.. Should we get a fruit parfait?" He asked. "It's your favourite right? You always order one." He said.

"Yeah but.."

I wanted to eat it but there was no way I could eat it all.

"Should we share it?" He asked.

"Yeah, let's split it." I agreed. "Which one would you like? The banana looks good but so does the mango.."

We ended up eating the banana.

"You can go ahead and eat your half." He said.

"Yay! Thanks."

I picked up my spoon but stopped before I took a scoop. I felt kind of bad, he was paying. I shouldn't be the one eating first. Oh I know! I picked up the strawberry that was on top.

"C'mon Tatsuro, open up." I said and held it up to him.

"Huh?"

"You should have the first bite." I said.

"No, it's really ok.." He said and turned his head away.

"Ooh. Are you embarrassed?" I asked teasing him.

"You're doing it on purpose aren't you?" He asked.

"Me? Would I do that? But who cares, we're always like this together." I said.

"What are you saying? Geeze.."

He opened his mouth and ate the strawberry.

"Is it good?" I asked.

"Mmm.. Really good." He said.

"Good, now I can eat my half!"

I instantly started scooping up bits. It was so tasty. I then noticed him smiling at me again.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing, your face is just so easy too read." He said.

I just smiled back at him as I ate.

"By the way, your museum was robbed, wasn't it?" He asked.

"Yeah." I said hesitantly.

"By the Black Foxes."

"Yeah, the museum is gonna be closed for a while. I don't know what I'm going to do for money this month." I said and sighed.

"Oh yeah, you're a contract employee, aren't you?"

"Yeah, I get paid by the hour, so it's really a pain for the museum to be closed." I complained.

It was the Foxes fault that I was in this mess in the first place. It was so annoying.

"Hey, about the Black foxes.. Did you happen to see any of their faces?" He asked.

"Huh? Who me?" I asked trying to act innocent.

"I saw who was working that day. You were at the museum pretty late that night, right?"

"Uh... I didn't see anything." I said quickly.

"Really?"

"Yeah, I was in the warehouse and when I heard the alarm go off I came but by the time I came out, they had already gone. I saw their backs though."

"Damn, I thought maybe you might have seen something that could have lead us to a clue." He said.

"Are you in charge of the case against the Black Foxes?" I asked.

"Yep. They're stirring up a lot of trouble lately. So the department is thinking of putting more cops on the case." He said.

"Really?"

So Tatsuro and I were on opposite sides now. I didn't like this at all, why did he have to be the one working on the case? It wasn't fair.

"Faye? The parfait is melting." He said.

"Whoa, you're right." I said and scooped some of it up.

"Haha! Because you're spacing out like that." He laughed.

I returned to the Le Rendard Noir that evening.

"We saw youu!" Hiro said as I came through the door.

"Huh? Doing what?" I asked.

"Faye.. Today you were with that detective at the dinner and you were like 'say ahhhhh!'." He laughed.

"What? Were you following me?" I asked.

"No no." Hiro said.

"We just happened to go to the same diner for lunch." Kenshi said.

"Really?" I asked.

As if I would believe them.

"For real, we're not following you." Hiro said.

"We don't need to follow you, because we can always find out where you are in an instant." Kenshi said with a smile.

I continued to glare at them.

"It's the truth." Hiro said.

"Anyway, aren't you in a bind? The museum's gonna be closed for a while, right? What are you gonna do for money?" Kenshi asked.

"Whose fault do you think that is anyway?" I asked and folded my arms.

"Haha. I guess it's our fault." Kenshi laughed.

"This isn't a joke." I said.

"Kenshi, isn't your mum hiring at your restaurant?" Hiro asked.

"Oh yeah, Faye why don't you work part-time in my family restaurant?" Kenshi offered.

"Seriously?" I asked.

"Why not?" Kenshi asked laughed.

CHIME CHIME

The door opened the Takuto and Riki walked in.

"Hey, what's going on?" Riki asked.

"Faye's going to be working in Kenshi's restaurant. She needs money and it's all our fault, you since the museum is closed now." Hiro explained.

"Oh that's right. I forgot you were a contract employee." Riki said.

"Can you even do the job?" Takuto asked.

"Yes!" I snapped at him.

CHIME CHIME

"Hi, can I have a table for three?" Someone asked as they came in.

I turned and saw Tatsuro stood behind me.

Oh god, why was he here? I immediately turned around and hide my face with my hand.

"Sure, right over here." Boss said.

"Great. Huh? Faye?" Tatsuro gasped.

"Oh yeah." I said and turned around. "What are you doing here?" I asked.

"I just wanted a drink..." He said.

Two other cops came in, Boss showed them to a table.

"That's him right?" Riki asked.

"Yep. Detective Tatsuro Togoshi." Hiro said.

"A.K.A the cop on our case." Takuto said.

"You think he came here 'cuz he suspects something?" Kenshi asked.

I watched Tatsuro and his friends, they were toasting to another case being solved. He kept glancing up at me, he was probably wondering why I wasn't going over to him.

I decided to join him and his friends.

"Hey." I said and sat down.

"What are you doing here?" Tatsuro asked.

"Just hanging out, I come here all the time." I said.

"Hey. Is she a friend of yours, Togoshi?" The first cop asked.

"Yep, since we were kids." Tatsuro answered.

"What, she aint your girlfriend?" The second cop asked.

"No idiot." Tatsuro said and I noticed that his cheeks went red.

Why was he getting shy all of a sudden?

Boss bought them their drinks.

"Cheers! Here's to another case closed!" The first cop said.

"Cheers!" They all said and banged glasses together.

"What case did you close?" I asked.

"You know, the 1 million dollar extortion plot." Tatsuro said.

"Oh yeah." I said as I remembered.

"We arrested the guy."

"So the case is solved." The first guy said.

"We still got a lotta work left to do on the investigation." The second cop said.

"Yet somebody got assigned to the black foxes case." The first cop said.

Hearing them mention the Black Foxes made my heart skip a beat.

"Not my fault, I can't say no to the chief." He said.

"I know, but you really put us in a tough spot. Now we're down one man." The first cop said.

"These robin hoods or whatever they like to call themselves, really know how to stir up trouble.. Damn it!" The second cop said.

I briefly glanced at the guys sat at the bar, they were all watching us. The minute I looked over, they all turned away.

"Anyway, I'll leave you guys to it." I said and stood up.

"Ok, I'll see you later." Tatsuro said and patted me on the head.

"Look at him all patting her head like that.." The first cop teased.

"Huh?" Tatsuro said.

"You sure she's not your woman?" The second cop asked.

"I already told you, no! Right Faye?" Tatsuro asked.

"We're just friends, anyway… Enjoy your night." I said and moved away from the table.

I joined the other guys, I could hear them all talking among themselves but the minute I sat back down, they were dead quiet.

"Problem?" I asked and glared at all of them.

"No." Hiro said but his smile made me instantly suspicious.

Tatsuro and his friends left soon afterwards.

"What is your relationship with him?" Hiro asked.

"We've been friends since we were kids and he's Ranko's older brother." I answered.

"That's not it, right? There's something else, right?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked.

"Was he your first love?"

"What?!"

"Top grades, excellent at sports. He was always the anchor in the relay races at school, everyone noticed him." Takuto said.

What? Did they investigate him?

"When you're a kid, you're always popular if you're fast." Takuto said.

"Just because he could run fast, that wasn't the only reason I love-Ohhh!"

"Hahaha! Faye that's your own fault." Hiro burst out laughing.

"It was a long time ago." I stated.

Hiro was still laughing. "Anyway, what we're trying to say is... Even though he's your friend and first love, since he's a detective he's our enemy. So you better not be thinking of falling for him or spilling everything to him."

I glared at him, again with the threats.

"I wasn't planning on doing it, I'm not stupid." I said.

Takuto then snorted and I glared at him before I stormed out of the bar.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The next morning, I arrived at Kenshi's family restaurant to start work.

"This is Faye Stone, she's started work here today." Satoko said as I came into the staff changing room.

Satoko was Kenshi's mother.

"Nice to meet you all." I said to the staff.

"If you have any questions, just ask me." Satoko said. "Everyone help Faye, ok?"

"Ok." Everyone agreed.

She left the room and a girl was glaring at me.

"Hi, what are you names?" I asked.

"Wakana." The girl who was glaring at me said. "Change into your kimono. Now." She ordered and shoved a kimono into my arms.

What was her problem?

"I heard you're an acquaintance of Kenshi's, is that true?" She asked.

"Uh. Well... I suppose. I hardly know him." I said.

"Hmm.." She and continued to glare at me.

I got changed and joined the others for work, I had worked as a waitress when I first got a job so this shouldn't be too hard.

I went into the kitchen and took the first order up to the Chrysanthemum room.

"Sorry for the wait." I said as I entered the room.

Riki and Hiro were sat at the table.

"Heheh. You look good in a Kimono Faye." Hiro said.

"Thanks. What are you doing here?" I asked.

"A meeting about our next mission. Restaurants with private rooms like this are perfect for secret meetings." Riki said.

The door to the room slid open and Kenshi walked in.

"Stone, hey. You look good." He said and ruffled my hair.

"Hey." I said and pushed his hand away, making him laugh.

"Hi Kenny! The food just got here." Hiro said.

"Oh, Stone brought it? I'd like a beer to." Kenshi said.

"Ok." I said.

I put the tray down and left to get the drinks. I wondered what they were planning on stealing now?

I went back to the room and gave them their drinks. As I handed Kenshi his beer, I noticed Riki staring at me.

"What you staring at?" I asked.

"Perfect timing, Let's make her do it." He said.

"Do what?" I asked.

I didn't like the smile on his face.

"Since she's working here, no one will be suspicious." Riki said.

"Do what?" I asked again.

"It's about our next mission. Our plan is to lure a rich man here, get him drunk and then steal treasure from him." Hiro explained.

"And.. You want me to do that?" I asked.

"Who else is there?" Riki asked.

"No way! Absolutely not!"

"You're so annoying. How many times do I have to tell you? You don't have a choice!" Riki snapped.

I glared at him.

"Wait Riki, let's go over the plan again. " Kenshi said.

"What? Why?" Riki asked.

"There are too many holes in this plan. Why don't we think it over again and only ask Stone if we absolutely need her?" Kenshi asked.

"Whoa. Kenny is such a nice guy!" Hiro said.

"Stop teasing me Hiro." Kenshi said and ruffled Hiro's hair.

"Hey stop it! Now my hair's all messed up!" Hiro complained.

Kenshi started to laugh.

I couldn't help but laugh as well, Hiro was worse than a girl.

"All right, I see your point Kenshi. Fine, then let's go over the plan again." Riki agreed.

"Good, you can go back to the kitchen now Stone." Kenshi said.

I didn't want to be involved in any crime that wasn't at least related to Gramps. I didn't see why I had to help them steal other things as well.

That evening, I went home to my apartment. I sat on my bed and picked up my sketchbook and started drawing my Gramps from memory. He always wore these lovely round glasses that belonged to someone in the 1800's. I could picture him clearly in my mind, every line on his face, every shadow. Gramps was the one who taught me how to draw. I could never be as good as him but I was pretty good. I loved drawing.

The next morning, I didn't start work till 3 so I just wanted to relax. I was sat on a bench, I had my ipod headphones in with my sketchbook on my lap. I was drawing a man reading a paper with a small dog sat next to him.

Shadow then loomed over me.

"Stone? Hey, what you doing?"

I looked up and saw Kenshi stood over me.

"Hey." I said and pulled my headphones out.

"What you doing?" He asked.

I held up my sketchbook and showed him the picture.

"Whoa, you're really good. You really are like your great-grandfather aren't you?" He asked.

He took the book from me and slowly flicked through the pages.

"I'll never be as good as him." I said and took my book back.

Wherever I was, I always carried my sketchbook with me in my bag.

"You don't work until this afternoon right?" He asked. "You wanna tag along with me until then?"

"Huh?"

"I'll treat you to lunch!"

I shrugged "Sure." I agreed and stood up.

I think out of all of them, Kenshi was definitely the nicest. I kind of felt sorry for biting him.

I got into his van and he drove us to an orphanage.

"Oh! Look it's Kenny!" One of the children shouted with glee.

"Hi Kenny!" A girl waved.

"Hi guys! I brought lots of surprises for you today!" Kenshi beamed.

"Yaaay!" The kids cheered.

"Stone, I have some bags over there." Kenshi said. "Wanna help me carry them inside?"

"Sure."

The bags were filled with juice cartons, food and toys. All for the children. Kenshi first handed out juice to the children.

"Everyone say thank you to Kenny." A man said.

"Thank you Kenny!" The children all said.

"Aw. They don't need to thank me, Ikuo." Kenshi said.

"Yes they do. Saying thank you after receiving a gift is basic manners." Ikuo said.

"Yeah but.."

"Hm? Who is this?" Ikuo asked looking at me.

"Hi, I'm Faye Stone." I said.

"I'm Ikuo Endo, I'm the director of the center." He said.

I smiled "It's nice to meet you." I said.

"Ikuo founded the lily center." Kenshi explained.

"We take in children who have lost their parents in disasters or accidents." Ikuo said.

The children then started asking Kenshi to come play with them, he didn't hesitate and started to play them. I couldn't help but smile, he was such a nice guy. How could such a nice guy be a thief? It didn't make any sense.

"How do you know each other?" I asked.

"We've been friends since school. And you? How do you know Kenny?"

"Oh uh... I just started working at his restaurant."

"I see."

"Does he come here a lot?" I asked.

"Because of his job, he's taken a liking to the Center and always brings stuff for the kids." He answered.

"Because of his job?" I asked.

He surely couldn't be talking about Kenshi being a thief.

"There are several kids here who lost their parents in fires." He said.

"Ooh I see."

Now I remember, boss told me that Kenshi was a fireman.

After we had finished at the center, we went to the Le Rendard Noir for lunch.

"Boss! You still serving lunch?" Kenshi asked.

"Kenshi and Faye..." Boss said.

"Hi." I said.

"So, how's your new job?" Boss asked.

"Fine." I answered.

"Your lunch is on me today, what will you have?" He asked.

"Pork noodles please."

"Oh sorry, we're all out." He said.

"Huh? You don't have any?" Kenshi asked.

"Takuto got the last one."

That's when I noticed Takuto sat at the far end of the bar.

"That's what you get!" He sneered.

"Stone, what did you do to Takuto?" Kenshi asked.

"Nothing, he's just being childish and holding a grudge." I said.

We both sat down at a table.

"I'd like the grilled fish with extra rice. Now about you Stone?" Kenshi asked.

"Large serving of breaded pork with rice."

"Large?" Kenshi questioned. "Haha. You a big eater?"

"Yeah and what if I am?" I asked.

"Large grilled fish and large breaded pork, coming right up!" Boss said.

Kenshi's phone then rung, he stood up and walked away to answer it.

"So where'd you go with Kenshi today, Faye? A date?" Boss asked as he brought us our food.

"No, we went to the lily center." I answered.

"The lily center? Oh that place that Kenshi sends donations to?"

"He sends donations?" I asked.

"Yep. If we ever get money from our jobs, which is rare, he always donates all the money to the center."

"Really?" I asked.

Seriously, why was Kenshi a thief? He was too nice!

Kenshi then came back in and joined us.

"So, what are you going to do with the girl during the mission? Make her go?" Takuto asked.

"We haven't talked about it yet." Kenshi said and glanced at me.

They must be talking about the mission from before.

"Don't you think you'd better decide?" Takuto said. "If you can't use her, then Hiro's gonna have to disguise himself as a waitress."

Hiro as a waitress, that would be hilarious to see!

"I know." Kenshi said.

"Um about that.. I'll help with the mission." I said.

"What? Are you serious?" Kenshi asked.

"Yes." I said.

It's not like I had a choice but, Kenshi was a good guy and I wanted to repay him for giving me a job.

A few days later, we were down in the basement with everyone.

"Let's go over the mission again. We're after a painting. Target is wealthy Mr Kinzo Gondawara. He's coming to Kikufuji tonight, right Kenshi?" Riki said.

"Yep. Reservation for 8 o'clock." Kenshi said.

"Great and Faye will be his waitress. Kenshi will put the drugs in his food and-"

"Wait drugs? You're not going to poison him are you?" I asked.

"Of course not. Just something to make him a little loopy. Nothing that'll endanger his life." Kenshi said.

"Good."

Riki continued "Then afterwards, he'll go to his usual club in Ginza. Normally, the one who makes his reservation is.."

"Either my mum or one of the waitresses." Kenshi said.

"So Faye will do it tonight." Riki said with a smile. "Name of the club is 'Illusion'."

"I'll already be on stand-by at the club. Faye, try not to mess up." Hiro said.

"I'll try." I said.

I wondered if he was going to pose as a customer there or something.

"While the target is out, Takuto and I will break into his house. Right?" Kenshi said.

"Yep." Riki said.

"What about his family?" Takuto.

"Son and daughter will be out. Wife is in Europe. There are two live-in maids but after a few days of recon we've determined they're usually asleep by 11." Riki said.

"So we need to figure out if we can get past security." Kenshi said.

"What do you think Takuto?" Riki asked.

"I've already accessed the security system. Can't do anything else until I see it in person."

"Got it, if you run into any trouble give me a call." Riki said. "That's it, anything else to add Boss?" Riki asked.

"Nope! That's it, do your best everyone!" Boss said.

"That's a wrap, everyone remember your roles." Riki said.

I didn't really see what function Boss had, Riki seemed to be the one in charge. I hated to admit it, but these guys were pretty good. They had a lot of information and were quite prepared for the mission. Hopefully, it would go without a hitch.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

8 o'clock, the target arrived at the restaurant.

"Faye, please bring some hot sake to the guest in the Cherry Blossom room." Satoko said.

"Ok." I said.

I went to the kitchen and asked for some hot sake.

"Hey Stone, target here already?" Kenshi asked.

He was dressed in a chef outfit, he was putting the drugs in the target's food.

"Yeah, he's in the Cherry Blossom room. I'm about to bring him some hot sake." I said.

"Got it, first we'll get him drunk. After it looks like he's getting drunk, come back here ok?"

I nodded.

"This and this." He said and handed me a few things.

"A brooch? It's cute." I said as I examined it.

It was a small brooch in the shape of a butterfly.

"It's a hidden mic. Put it in your sleeve. If you need help, you can contact Riki with it."

"Ok." I said and put it on my sleeve.

"All right, get to it!"

I took the sake to the target.

"Sorry for the wait, here's your hot sake." I said.

Mr Kinzo Gondawara was sat at a table, he was dressed very well and looked quite rich.

"Ooh! Who's this, Satoko? Haven't seen her here before!" He said and smiled at me.

"Yes, she's our new waitress." Satoko said.

"Nice to meet you." I said and smiled at him.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Faye."

"I see, hmmm." He said giving me a flirty look.

The way he looked at me made me want to vomit but I somehow managed to hold back.

"Let's get to know each other better. Come over here next to me, Faye." He said.

"Ok." I said and sat down next to him.

"Mr Gondawara, as I said Faye is rather new here." Satoko said.

"Even better! C'mon Faye, pour me some sake." he said.

Uugh! This guy was gross.

"You're only waiting on me tonight, right Faye?" He asked.

"Yes." I answered.

I stayed with him and poured him all the sake that he wanted.

One hour later,

"Kenshi." I said as I came into the kitchen.

"Well? Is he drunk?" He asked.

"Yes."

"Ok, now bring him this tempura. Make sure he eats it with a lot of salt." He said.

"Salt?" I questioned.

"Yeah, just tell him 'This dish tastes best with salt' or something." He said.

"Ok."

I took the dish and returned to the room.

"Sorry for the wait." I said and placed the dish in front of Mr Gondawara.

The other waitress's and Kenshi's mum had left her, he had told them to leave to we could be alone.

"Come here Faye." He said and I sat next to him again.

"So what's this?" he asked looking at the food.

"Tempura, please eat it before it gets cold." I said.

"Ok. Can I have the soy sauce?" He asked.

"It tastes best with this special salt." I said and handed him salt.

"Salt? I don't really like salt." He said.

"Please try it." I said.

"But I always put soy sauce on my tempura."

Geeze!

"Open your mouth and say 'ahhh!', Mr Gondawara." I said.

"Oh? Are you going to feed me?" He asked and smiled.

"Yes, come on. Open up!"

"Hmmm... this salt is pretty good." He said as I started to feed him.

"See? Told you." I said.

I wondered if the drugs were in the food or the salt.

30 minutes later,

"Mwahaha... I'm feeling really good today!" He laughed.

"Is that so?" I asked.

He wouldn't stop staring at me, he was starting to freak me out.

Just concentrate on the mission, it's all for the mission. I told myself over and over.

"C'mere Faye." He said.

He reached out his hand and ran it down my thigh.

"Now now Mr Gondawara, that's not very nice." I said and pushed his hand away.

"What? Are you shy?" He asked. "What an innocent little girl you are you." He laughed.

His hand started to move towards his thigh again, I was getting ready to punch him when Kenshi came into the room.

"How is the food today, Mr Gondawara?" He asked.

"Oh, the food.. Pretty good."

"We have one more special dish prepared for you Mr Gondawara. Let's go Stone." Kenshi said.

We both left the room, the moment we were far enough to talk without Mr Gondawara hearing us, Kenshi burst out laughing.

"Hahaha that was close!" He laughed.

"It's not funny. What in the world did you give him?" I asked.

"Just.. Some kind of aphrodisiac."

"An aphrodisiac?! Doesn't that make you horny?" I asked.

"Yeah." He laughed again.

"Hmm.. That explains a lot." I said and sighed.

I shuddered at the thought of Mr Gondawara touching me.

"Stone, you're being pretty calm. Haha! Good girl! I'm impressed." He said and rubbed my hair again.

"Kenshi, stop messing up my hair." I said and pushed his hand away.

"Oh sorry, you're in the middle of work. But we're almost finished, you just have to wait on him a bit longer."

I sighed "Fine. I can do this, I just need to resist the urge to punch him." I said.

I got more food from the kitchen and returned to the room. For the next hour, I managed to deal with him.

"Thank you for coming today, Mr Gondawara." Satoko said.

We were stood by the front entrance, there was a taxi waiting for him.

"By the way my next stop is.." He said.

"Yes, we've already made your reservation for club Illusion in Ginza." I said.

"Oh club Illusion! I'm obsessed with that place lately. Rose is just so cute.. Mwahaha!"

Now all I have to do is see him off and my job is finally done.

"Ok let's go Faye." He said.

"Huh?"

He grabbed my arm and pulled me inside the taxi.

"Mr Gondawara?!" I gasped.

"Wait Mr Gondawara!" Satoko shouted.

"Start the car!" Mr Gondawara ordered.

Before I could jump out, the taxi sped off.

"I wanna spend some more time with you Faye." He said.

He held onto my arm tightly, what was I going to do? He was taking me to the club, I just needed to remain calm. I'm sure it wouldn't be too difficult to slip away once we were inside.

"Welcome Mr Gondawara. Who's this?" The manager of the club asked as we walked in together.

"I'm a friend." I said.

I needed to find Hiro, he must be here somewhere.

"And who would you like to see tonight, Mr Gondawara?" The manager asked.

"Rose, I always see Rose."

"Of course, she's been waiting for you." The manager said. "Rose! Rose!"

"Hiii!" A beautiful girl said as she greeted us.

She had long ginger hair, but I recognized her but I didn't know where from.

"It's been forever Kinzo!" She said.

"Mwhahha!" Gondawara laughed.

"Oh you brought someone along today?" She asked.

She turned and looked at me and gasped in surprised, why did she look so surprised to see me?

"Why did you bring another girl here, Kinzo?" she asked.

"She's a new girl from Kikufuji." He answered.

"I see.. That puts me in a bind. Well whatever, let's go sit over there." She said and pointed to a booth.

"I need to use the bathroom first." I said.

"The bathroom's just over there, go ahead." She said and pointed.

Mr Gondawara finally let me go and I went to the bathroom. I needed to call Riki. I took the brooch from my sleeve.

"Riki? It's Faye." I said.

"What's up?" He asked.

"The target kidnapped me, he brought me to the club." I said.

"What'd you say?" He asked.

"What should I do?" I asked.

"There's a girl there named Rose, right?"

"Yeah."

"That's Hiro."

"What?! Are you serious?!" I asked and burst out laughing.

He looked quite convincing as a woman.

"You're making too much noise! Anyway, go back to the target and give some excuse to run away. Hiro will cover for you."

"Ok."

"I'll head to the club now. If anything happens, contact me ASAP." He said.

"Got it!"

I returned to the Hiro and Gondawara.

"Heheh... welcome back. Here's a warm towel." Rose said.

"Thank you." I said.

Is it really Hiro? He looked and sounded so much like a woman! It was so cool, it took all my strength not to laugh.

"Stop staring at me, you're embarrassing me!" She said.

"Oh sorry." I apologised and looked away.

"What's wrong Faye? Is Rose so cute even you can't resist her?" Gondawara asked.

"Yeah.. Something like it." I said.

"But she's cute too.. I'm jealous!" Rose said with a smile.

"Mwhahah! Oh really?" Gondawara asked.

"Hey Kinzo, can't we just be alone?" Rose asked. "I just want to be alone with you. I don't really want to be with that girl."

"That's fine, I need to go back to work anyway." I said and stood up.

"Wait, wait Faye. Don't go home." He said and grabbed my arm. "Rose, I can't believe you're jealous. You're so cute... Mwahaha."

Me and Rose both just looked at each other for a moment, this wasn't going to be easy.

"You're so difficult Kinzo." Rose said with a sigh.

"Will you get me a drink Rose?" Gondawara asked.

"Ok." Rose agreed.

She got a bottle and skillfully made him a drink.

I immediately noticed that he slipped a tablet into the drink.

"All done! Here you go Kinzo!"

"No one mixes drinks better than you Rose."

30 minutes later, Gondawara had passed out.

"He's finally asleep." I said with a sigh of relief.

"I crushed a sleeping pill and put it in his drink." Hiro said in his normal voice. "You better run away now, Faye."

"You make a convincing girl Hiro." I said.

He laughed "You realised it was me?"

"Only because Riki told me."

"Hm? Do you have a mic on you?" He asked.

"Yeah."

"Good, go ahead and meet up with Riki. I'll take care of this one."

I didn't argue and left immediately. The moment I was outside the club, I contacted Riki.

"Riki, I've left the club." I said.

"Ok, wait right there. I'm on my way." He said.

Riki arrived 5 minutes later in his sports car.

"I didn't know that was going to happen." He said.

"Sorry." I said.

"It's fine, what happened to the target?" He asked.

"Hiro slipped him a sleeping pill."

"Ok, we'll just have to see how long it holds." He said.

"Where are the others?" I asked.

"At Gondawara's mansion, it took a while to breech his security. So they just now got inside. We're about one hour off schedule."

"Will it be ok?" I asked.

"Who do you think we are? We're the Black Foxes!" he bragged with a confident smile.

He was pretty confident.

"Let's head over to the mansion, too." He said.

He drove and we headed to the mansion.

His house was huge! A tall wall surrounded the house and a big gate blocked the entrance. We both sat in the car waiting, Kenshi and Takuto were already inside, hopefully they had found the painting.

BEEP

"Hm? It's from Kenshi. Turn on your mic Faye." Riki said.

I nodded and turned on the mic.

"What's up Kenshi?" Riki asked.

"We're in the target's bedroom, but we can't find the painting."

"Ridiculous. From our recon, we determined it was in his bedroom." Riki said.

"Yeah, but it's not here anymore. Takuton's searching another room but.."

"Roger, call back if there's anything else. I hope Gondawara hasn't sent it to be restored." Riki said,

"What happens if he did?" I asked.

"Back too square one. But we need to find out what's going on first." He said.

A few minutes later, Riki's mobile rang.

"Phone call from Hiro. What's up?... what? Gondawara wants to go home?... He can't! We need one hour. Try and get him to stay at the hotel for something, got it?"

He hung up the phone with an annoyed look on his face.

"Tch. What terrible timing."

"What are you going to do?" I asked.

"I'm gonna go in with Kenshi and Takuto. You stay in the car." He said.

"But I want to help."

"You're not use to this stuff, you'll just slow us down. Anyway, there's something else I want you to do. I have a box of sushi in the backseat, if Hiro fails to slow the target down and he comes back, follow him and call out to him before he goes inside. Give him the sushi and say 'You forgot this!'." He said.

"Really? Won't that seem weird?"

"Sometimes Kenshi's mum sends a box of sushi home with customers who didn't eat much. She's sent him home with Sushi many times before. So just act like you got it from Kenshi's mum." He said.

"But if he comes back, first call me. Got it?"

I nodded.

He joined the others in the mansion, I waited anxiously. I felt so hopeless just sat here.

My phone then rang,

"Hello?"

"It's me. Contact the leader, can't stall Gondawara anymore. He said he's going home." Hiro said.

"Are you serious?"

"Depending on traffic, he'll probably be there in 20 minutes give or take." He said.

"Ok." I said and hung up.

I then got my mic,

"Riki, it's Faye." I said.

"What's up?" He asked.

"Mr Gondawara's going to be here in about 20 minutes."

"Damn it! We found the painting, but we need time to get it out. If Gondawara comes home before we get out, I need you to stall him."

"Ok, no problem." I said.

I took the box of sushi from the backseat and got ready.

20 minutes later, I saw Mr Gondawara get out of a taxi.

"Riki, Mr Gondawara's home." I said into my mic.

"We got the painting, we're coming out now. But stall him just in case." He said.

"Ok."

I got out of the car and ran up to him.

"Wheeee!" Gondawara said as he stepped out of the taxi.

"Mr Gondawara!" I shouted.

"Hmm.. Oh it's Faye! Where in the world have you been?" he asked.

"I had to go back to Kikufuji to get this for you." I said and held up the box.

"What is it?" He asked.

"A box of sushi. Mrs Inagaki gave it to me for you, I completely forgot to give it to you earlier." I said.

"Ohh! I see Mwahaha!"

He staggered over to me.

"Perfect timing, stay with me tonight Faye." He said.

"What? No I can't." I said and stepped back.

"Don't be shy.."

I had to stall him longer! I moved in front of the entrance and blocked his path.

"Why can't we just stay here and talk?" I asked.

"Huh? Here in the yard?" He asked and smiled and started taking off his clothes. "Well... well.. Well.. This is how you like it. Huh Faye?"

"What? No! Put your clothes back on." I ordered.

He laughed and grabbed my arm and pulled me towards him.

"Let go of me!" I shouted.

His grip was like a vice! I couldn't take this anymore.

"Stone!" Kenshi shouted.

He came out from a window and I could see him running towards us. Gondawara continued to pull me towards him. I clenched my fist and punched him hard in the face.

"Ooof!" Gondawara groaned before he collapsed to the floor.

"Whoa!... you punched him..." Kenshi said surprised, he stopped dead in his tracks.

"Well, he was annoying me. What are you doing here?" I asked and shook my sore hand.

His face was as hard as a rock.

"I knew you were with Gondawara so I came to save you, but I guess you can take care of yourself." He said and smiled.

He then burst out laughing and rubbed my head like he always did.

"You're amazing you know that? I can't believe you knocked him out cold! You're the greatest, really. Hahah!"

I couldn't help but smile proudly "I felt so bloody good to hit him, you have no idea."

We both laughed but stopped when we heard the sharp sound of a dog barking.

"Crap. Guess they got noticed." Kenshi said.

"Is that Mr Gondawara's dog?" I asked.

"Yep, a doberman. Let's go!"

We ran away and got into the sports car and sped off.

"Whew, that was close." Kenshi said.

"You're too slow Kenny." Takuto said.

"Haha! Sorry but Faye punched out Gondawara." Kenshi bragged.

"And it felt great!" I said and held my hands up in the air.

"You've got amazing strength Faye." Kenshi said.

Riki dropped me and Kenshi off at the restaurant, I had left all of my things at the restaurant.

"I'll contact you when it's time for our next mission." Riki said to us.

"Got it." Kenshi said.

"Good night." I said and waved to Riki as he drove off.

"Can I stay here tonight?" I asked as we walked into the restaurant.

"Sure."

"Thanks. God I'm exhausted." I said.

"Me too, a lot of unexpected things happened. Like somebody punching out the target."

He really liked that didn't he?

"I didn't mean to knock him." I said.

"Hahah Well, everything turned out all right in the end. Hey... you want to stay up for a bit longer?"

"Sure, what do you want to do?" I asked.

"It's a full moon tonight, let's go have a drink under it." He said.

He got alcohol from the kitchen and we sat in the garden together.

"Here's to a successful mission! Cheers!" He said and we clinked cans together.

"Cheers!" I said.

"Ooh! A cold beer tastes so good after work." He said.

"Definitely." I agreed.

It had been so long since I had a drink. I couldn't help but think of the mission, in a weird way I kind of enjoyed it. It was exciting and kind of exhilarating.

We drank several cans under the moon, at first it was just casual but then it turned into a game. Who could drink the most beer?


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The next morning,

"Ughh.. Oh I'm dying..." I groaned and opened my eyes.

I was blinded by bright lights for moment. I looked around, this wasn't my room. Where was I? I slowly turned around and saw Kenshi asleep next to me, he had his strong arms wrapped around me.

Oh god! Please say we didn't do anything last night! I quickly lifted up the duvet and sighed with relief when I saw that I still had all of my clothes on.

I thought back to last night, we drank so much but I couldn't remember how I got here.

Kenshi started to stir and opened his eyes.

"Uugh.. My head hurts.." he mumbled.

"Morning." I said.

"Huh? Oh It's you Faye. Whoa! You're really close!"

"Yeah... do you think you could let me go?" I asked.

He let me go and I wiggled out of his arms and climbed out of the bed.

"Ooh. Looks like I did it again." He said.

"Do what?" I asked.

"I like to sleep holding onto pillows or blankets. And sometimes I do it to people... this is the first time I've ever done it to a girl I wasn't dating before. Sorry."

"It's ok... we didn't do anything did we?" I asked.

"Hahah! No we didn't." he laughed.

"Good." I said.

"But I guess we need to be careful when I drink. You can really hold your drink." He said and smiled at me.

"Who won the drinking contest?" I asked.

"I can't remember, but you're very competitive." He said and laughed again.

Kenshi was such a nice a guy, I couldn't ask for a better friend at a time like this. Plus now I had a good drinking buddy.

I went back to my apartment, I had a shower and some breakfast before heading to the Le Rendard Noir. I still had to check in.

"Uugh... I wish I was dead.." I moaned.

I held a cold glass of water up to my pounding head.

"Here's your fried chicken." Boss said and put the plate down in front of me.

"Thanks." I said.

"I put clams in the miso soup, just for you. It's the perfect hangover cure." Boss said.

"You reek of alcohol." Riki stated making me jump.

"Oh hey Riki, when did you get here?" I asked.

"What are you talking about? I've been sat here for an hour." He said.

"Ooh... sorry."

"I can't believe you got drunk after a mission!" he laughed.

I didn't have the energy to talk and just moaned at him before I started eating. After this, I was heading straight home and I was going straight to bed.

The next day, as usual I had to report to the Le Rendard Noir.

"Fingerprints?" I questioned.

"Yeah, when we broke into your museum, on that weird statue."

"From the Makonde tribe?" I asked.

"Yep." Riki said.

"Apparently Riki's fingers got left behind on it." Hiro said.

Oh that's right, he grabbed the statue to stop it from landing on me.

"And since it's your fault, you're going to help us." Riki said. "Even if you so say no, we're going to make you help us." He said.

"Ok one, I'd like to see you try and two, you don't need to threaten me. I wasn't going to say no, I want to help." I said.

"Hm?" He said surprised.

"I'm one of you guys now, right?" I asked.

I mean I had already helped with one mission.

"That's right, you're the sixth member of the Black Foxes Faye." Hiro said with a smile.

"So, I'll help you." I said.

"What, so now you're all for it all of a sudden?" Riki asked. "Just the other day, you were so against all of this."

"Would you rather I not cooperate?" I asked.

He ignored my statement and briefly glared at me.

"So what are we going to do?" Hiro asked. "The cops are saying the prints on the statue are suspicious."

"Yeah...but my prints aren't in the police database. So there's a very low chance they'll find out they're mine." Riki said.

"So we're talking just in case."

"Yep, if that happens I'll say it happened when I visited the museum two months ago." Riki said.

"Two months ago?" I questioned.

"Yeah, but unless you have some kind of proof, why should they believe you?" Hiro asked.

"That's why we're going to leave some proof." Riki said.

"How?" I asked.

"Faye, do you know of any exhibits that were on display two months ago but not on display that night?" Riki asked.

"Two months ago... I think there's a hair ornament."

"What kind?" Hiro asked.

"From the Muromachi Era. Usually it's on permanent display but right now it's in storage to make room for that tiara that just went on display." I said.

"Storage? That's perfect." Riki said.

"There's no way the police checked anything in storage for prints." Hiro said.

"So you're going to put Riki's prints on the hair ornament." I said.

"And then there'll be proof I was there two months ago." Riki said.

"So when's the mission?" I asked.

"Day after tomorrow. For the mission, you'll come to the storeroom with me. Because you have to show me which hair ornament it is." Riki said.

I nodded. My second mission with the Black Foxes.

It was the day of the mission,

"What's the security situation?" Riki asked Takuto.

"Light as usual. Not a problem." Takuto answered.

He looked so confident.

"Let's go Faye." Riki said.

"If anything happens, contact us right away. Don't push yourself." Kenshi said.

"You can contact us through that brooch we gave you." Hiro said.

"Ok." I said and nodded.

There was something about being in an empty museum at night, that really creeped me out. It was like a scene out of a horror movie, I expected zombies or vampires to come jumping out at us.

"You're totally scared right now, aren't you?" Riki asked.

"Not really, just creeped out." I said.

"You don't have to pretend, it's obvious." He said with a slight smile on his face.

Was he enjoying this?

"Don't worry, there's aren't any guards or cops around today. As long as the security is disabled, it'll be a piece of cake. Ok?" he said and ruffled my hair just like Kenshi did.

He was comforting me.

"Ok." I said and smiled at him.

"So? The warehouse is just up ahead?" He asked.

"Yes, this way." I said and lead the way.

"Hmm. It feels great in here." Riki said as we entered the storeroom.

"The air conditioning's even on." he said.

"Humidity is a museum's greatest enemy, you know." I said.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. So, where is the hair ornament?" He asked.

"Over in that display case." I said and pointed.

"This? All right." He said.

He walked over to the case and touched the case and the pedestal underneath.

"That should do it." He said. "Fingerprints are the most damning evidence."

"Really?" I asked.

"Yep and your fingerprints are special." he said smiling at me.

He reached out and stroked my fingertips.

What was he doing? I looked down at our hands and pulled away.

"Our great-grandfathers were all thieves too. And their final mission was searching for your gramps last masterpiece and invention. 'There are three painting and one thing out of all my inventions I want to recover and you can't let anyone else have it.' That was in your gramps' will that he entrusted to our great-grandfathers, it was his final request." he said.

I wondered what it could be. We had to recover his final masterpiece and one of his inventions, my Gramps really was an amazing man.

"What is the invention?" I asked.

"We don't know. All we know is that it's a trick box and the only thing that can open it, is your fingerprints." he said.

BEEP BEEP

"What's up Hiro?" Riki asked.

"We're in trouble leader. Someone's heading that way."

"What?" Riki asked.

"They have a key, probably a guard or someone like that." Hiro said.

"Let's go Faye." Riki said.

"Ok." I said.

"Don't go out the front! Go out the back, just in case." Hiro said.

"Roger." Riki replied.

"The back exit is this way." I said and lead the way.

"You can't go out the back, security is still on." Takuto said.

We stopped running.

"Well then disable it!" Riki shouted.

"If I disable it now, it'll automatically call the security company. There'll be a record of it. Too much of a pain in the ass."

"Then fix it so the company doesn't get contacted!" Riki said.

"That'll take 3 minutes." Takuto said.

"3 minutes?!" Riki gasped.

What were we going to do? We were going to get caught and get arrested, my life was going to be over!

"The window! There's a window in that bathroom." I said.

"What about the window Takuto?" Riki asked.

"2 minutes."

"Do it in 1!" Riki shouted. "C'mon Faye."

He grabbed my hand and we ran towards the bathroom.

"Over here!" I said and pulled him into the bathroom.

"Takuto! What about the security?" Riki asked.

BEEP BEEP

"It'll take 5 more seconds!"

THUMP THUMP

"Someone's coming!" I whispered.

"Takuto!" Riki hissed.

"Done!" Takuto said.

"Let's go." Riki said.

He quickly jumped up through the window as if it was the easiest thing in the world. I reached my hand up, I couldn't grab the window.

"I'll pull you through, jump!" Riki ordered.

"Ok." I said.

Just as I was about to jump, my foot slipped on the sink.

"Ahh!" I screamed.

"Faye?!" Riki called out.

I fell backwards and hit my head on the sink before hitting the floor. The moment I hit the floor, I lost consciousness.

Mmm... my head pounded.

"Faye... Faye!" Someone shouted.

I could hear a voice shouting at me, who was it? What was going on?

"Faye!"

I could feel soft fingers touching my face as I started to regain consciousness. I opened my eyes and saw Tatsuro stood over me.

"Faye! Are you awake?" he asked.

"Tatsuro? Where am I? Why am I here?" I asked.

I tried to sit up but the back of my head pounded in pain, so I led back down.

"You're in the bathroom in your museum. Did someone hit you on the back of the head? Is that why you passed out?" He asked.

"Uh... I don't know..." I said and tried to think back.

Did someone attack me? But why was I here? The last thing I remember was... being in my apartment eating dinner.

"No! Don't move. You have a head injury, so you shouldn't move. I'm calling an ambulance. We'll take you to a hospital right way. Now just lie down." he said firmly.

"Ok. Please don't leave me." I said and tightly gripped his hand.

If someone attacked me, they might still be here. I didn't want to be alone.

"I won't, I promise. Who would have done such a thing to you, Faye?" He asked.

Tears filled my eyes "I don't know. Why am I here? The last thing I remember is being in my apartment." I sobbed.

"Hey don't cry, it's ok." He and squeezed my hand.

Something just didn't feel right about this.

An hour later,

"So when you ran towards the noise, she was already unconscious?" The Doctor asked Tatsuro.

"Yes, I think someone attacked her and knocked her unconscious." Tatsuro said.

"Well, because of the location of her injury, we'll have to run some tests on her." The doctor said.

"Thank you so much." Tatsuro said.

I was sat in a hospital bed with Tatsuo by my side, I still had hold of his hand. Things had slowly started to come back to me, I wasn't attacked I was doing a mission with Riki.

"Are you ok? You look very pale." The Doctor said.

"No I..." I said unsure of what to say.

"Is it because she hit her head?" Tatsuro asked.

"No I'm fine just still in shock." I said.

"By the way, you are..?" The Doctor asked Tatsuro.

"Oh I'm sorry, here's my business card." Tatsuro said and handed him a card.

"Oh.. From the police station. So that's why she was brought here." the doctor said.

Hm? What did he mean by that?

"Where am I?" I asked.

"The police hospital." Tatsuro answered.

The Doctor then left the room with Tatsuro but he quickly returned.

"I just filled out all the hospital paperwork." He said.

"Ok."

"They'll run the tests tomorrow. And if there are no problems, you can go home right away." He said.

"Oh good, thanks." I said.

I didn't know what to do, how was I going to explain this to him?

"By the way Faye.. What were you doing at the museum so late?" He asked.

"Huh?"

"It's closed right now, isn't it? So why were you there?"

Crap! What was I going to say?

"I... uh... oh my head." I started to sob and put my head into my hands.

"Are you ok? Should we call a nurse?" he asked.

"I would please like some pain relief, my head really hurts but seriously, I don't remember anything. One minute I'm in my apartment and the next thing I know, I'm waking up in the bathroom." I said.

"You can't remember anything?" He asked.

"No." I said.

The door slammed opened.

"Faye! Are you ok?!" Ranko asked as she burst in.

"Ranko?!" I gasped.

"I heard you were attacked and passed out." she shouted.

"Ranko, it's the middle of the night... be quiet." Tatsuro hissed.

"Shut it Tatsuro! Who attacked you? Did you see their face?" she demanded.

"I don't remember. One minute I'm having dinner at my apartment and the next, I'm in the bathroom at work." I said.

"So someone kidnapped you from your apartment?! But why would they take you to the museum? Was it the Black Foxes?" She asked.

Ranko seemed more like a detective right now.

"Um.. I don't know, I don't think so. Why would they come after me?" I asked.

I just had to play the helpless damsel in distress, I knew it was pathetic but i couldn't think of anything else to do.

"To steal more things from the museum? Who else would it be?"

"We won't know unless we investigate further." Tatsuro said.

"That's it! Faye is coming home with us after she gets out of the hospital." Ranko declared.

"What?!" I gasped.

"Ranko?!" Tatsuro gasped.

"Aren't you worried? Faye lives all by herself. What if she's attacked again?" Ranko said.

She was so determined.

"It's ok really, it's no big deal. I'm happy to go home." I said.

"Of course it's a big deal! Look at you, you're in hospital. So, you're coming home with us. I won't take no as answer." She warned.

"Ok fine." I agreed.

"Great, I'll come pick you up tomorrow." She said.

"Ok."

I couldn't exactly say no, if I refused it would look suspicious. They thought that someone had kidnapped me, so naturally I would be scared to go home.

The next evening,

"And this is your room!" Ranko said.

I was at Ranko's and Tatsuro's house, Ranko had given me a tour and showed me to my room.

"Please make yourself at home. It's only me and Tatsuro after all." She said with a sweet smile on her face.

"Thanks." I said.

"I'm glad all your tests came out fine." she said.

"Me to."

"So what should we do for dinner? Shall we order in?" She asked.

That would be amazing, it would be just like when we were kids. Me, Ranko and Tatsuro spent our entire childhood together.

"Thanks but I need to go out for a bit so I'll just skip dinner." I said.

"No you can't. You need to rest and eat." She said.

"I won't be long, I'll be back soon." I said.

I needed to see the others as soon as possible, they were probably worried.

I headed straight to the Le Rendard Noir.

"Hey." I said as I walked through the door.

"Faye!" Boss said.

"You got released from the hospital." Kenshi said.

"Yes. Wait, how did you guy know I was in hospital?" I asked.

"We can find out stuff like that in no time." He said.

"You stayed overnight for observation right? Were all your tests ok?" Boss asked.

"Yes, thankfully." I said.

"I'm so glad!" Kenshi beamed.

"Your head feel harder since you bumped it?" Takuto asked.

"Now now Takkun, don't start." Boss said.

"I should let Riki know right away. He was really worried about you." Kenshi said.

"Is Riki ok?" I asked.

"He's fine. He got away without being seen." Boss said.

"Good." I said.

"I can't believe Togoshi showed up at the museum. What the hell was he doing there, anyway?" Kenshi asked.

"Investigating?" Takuto asked. "He went in with a key and everything."

"So he heard Stone screaming and ran to her, he took you to the hospital right?" Kenshi asked. "Did he ask you a bunch of questions?"

"He did but I pretended that I couldn't remember anything. He's under the impression that I was attacked by someone." I said.

"Might be a blessing in disguise." Kenshi said.

"Idiots always have the best luck." Takuto commented.

I poked my tongue out to him.

Boss remained silent.

"What's wrong Boss?" Kenshi asked.

"Oh nothing. I was just thinking that Tatsuro is really sharp." He said.

"What?" I asked.

"He was always nice to the kids who were bullied or who were really shy in class, wasn't he?" he asked me.

"Yeah I guess... he was kind of a teacher's pet."

"A teacher's pet.. He notices small things normal people don't, I think. Like when everyone in class was paying attention to the kids that stood out. He'd be the only one watching the kids hiding in the background. Or.. If there was a house fire, instead of just standing there gawking like everyone else, he seems like the type of person who'd want to rush in and help." Boss said.

"That's..." Kenshi began.

"Not a bad trait for a detective. Well, we'll just have to see how he is as he gets more experienced." Boss said.

I just shrugged.

My phone then started to ring, it was a phone call from Ranko.

"Hello?"

"Hey, I'm going to bed. You have the key right?" She asked.

"Yeah I do."

"Good, make sure you have something to eat." She said.

"I will, good night."

"Night!"

I hung up.

"A friend?" Boss asked.

"Yeah Ranko. Oh that's right, I moved into Tatsuro's house today."

"What?!" Everyone gasped.

"Um.. Isn't that a little risky? Living with Togoshi?" Kenshi asked.

"I thought so too but I couldn't really so no." I said.

"You better not do anything stupid." Takuto warned glaring at me.

"Oh shut up Takuto! I won't do anything stupid!" I snapped back.

"What should we do Boss?" Kenshi asked.

"Hmm.. Depending on how we look at it, this might actually give us an advantage." Boss said.

"An advantage?" I asked.

"Maybe you can find out what he's doing. He won't say anything unless you ask him, of course. So maybe you can just say things like ' You're home pretty late' or ' Where did you go tonight?' Just really casually."

I didn't like this, I was deceiving one of my best friends but did I really have a choice? We needed to know what he knew otherwise, we wouldn't be able to get all of Gramps work back.

"Fine." I agreed.

"Don't look so serious. If you don't want to do it, you don't have to." Kenshi said. "You don't want to do it because he's your friend, right?"

"No I'll do it. I can do it." I said.

"Ok just do it at your own pace." Kenshi said.

"I will, thanks."

"If you force her, she's just gonna give herself away." Takuto said. "You better not cause any trouble for us."

"I already told you, I won't." I snapped.

What was his problem? Why did he have to be a jerk all the time?

I went home a few hours later.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"I'm home." I said as I opened the front door.

I stepped into the living room only to find Tatsuo on the floor.

"Tatsuro? Tatsuro!" I said and shook him till he woke up.

"Mm.. Mmm Faye? Why are you here?" He askes still half asleep.

"I moved in, remember?"

"Oh.. That's right. Welcome home Faye." He said and smiled.

"Thanks." I said and pulled him up to his feet. "What were you doing on the floor anyway?"

"I was.. Just so tired. As soon as I got home, I just passed out.."

He looked pale, everything with the Black Foxes must be taking their toll on him.

"I'm going to go to bed." He said and took a step forward but he was so wobbly he fell over.

I took him by his arm and helped him into his room.

"Wow, there are a ton of books here." I noted as we came to his room. "You always were a bookworm." I said and laughed.

"Yeah.. But I haven't had much time to read lately." He said sadly.

I didn't like to seem him sad, I had to change the subject.

"You're room is quite clean for a boy." I said.

He smiled "Well all I do is sleep here when I get home."

"When we were little there was all kinds of stuff in here." I said.

"You remember?" He asked.

"Of course I do! I use to spend the night here all the time! You had your soccer ball, your cleats... plastic models everywhere. Your room was always messy, your mum use to always tell you off."

"I guess you're right."

"Haha! And we read '100 scary stories' in here." I said.

"Oh that's right! Supposedly if you read all one hundred, a real ghost would appear! But after about five stories you and Ranko got too scared so we had to stop."

"That's right. And we were so scared we couldn't sleep so all three of us slept in your bed."

"Haha! Oh yeah!" He laughed.

He then led down on his bed.

"You want to sleep with me tonight?" he asked.

"What?"

"Three of us wouldn't fit anymore, but I have room in my bed for you Faye." He said tenderly.

I couldn't tell if he was joking, flirting or just asking me as a friend.

"You're really rough when you sleep." I said.

"Haha! I remember you and Ranko got so mad at me because I kept kicking you in my sleep!"

"Right? So I'll pass." I said.

"Yeah yeah." he laughed.

I glanced at his alarm clock, it was already 1am.

"I'm gonna go back to bed, I'll see you later." I said.

"Ok. Hey, how's your head? Does it still hurt?"

"I've still got a headache but it's fine." I said.

"If you need anything, just let me know. You're really important to both Ranko and me." He said.

I smiled "I know otherwise why would Ranko kidnap me and bring me here?" I joked and we both laughed.

"Goodnight." he said and patted me on the head.

He was being so nice to me and all I was doing was lying to him. It wasn't fair.

The next morning, I was the first one up and decided to make everyone breakfast.

"Morning." Ranko said as she came into the kitchen. "What smells so good? Is that breakfast? Seriously?"

"Hey, morning." I smiled.

"No way, did you make all this Faye?" She asked.

"Yeah, I just used whatever was in the fridge. I hope that's ok?"

"It's fine, it's fine! Tatsurooooo! Faye made us breakfast!"

Tatsuro came out of his room next.

"This looks amazing!" He said.

"It's no big deal."

"But there's toast, soup, salad, bacon and scrambled eggies!"

"Eggies? You're not a kid anymore Tatsuro. They're called eggs." Ranko said.

"Who cares." He said.

"Anyway, go ahead and eat! You don't have much time, right?"

"That's right. I'll go ahead and eat then." Ranko said.

"Me to." Tatsuro said.

We all sat around the kitchen table and started eating.

"How is it?" I asked.

"Delicious! Right Tatsuro?" Ranko said.

"Yeah, it's really good."

"I'm glad." I said.

They were letting me stay here for free, the least I could do was cook for them.

"Faye's always been a great cook!" Tatsuro said.

"Anyone's a master chef compared to you, Tatsuro." Ranko teased.

"Hey!"

"Oh yeah, I forgot you're not very good at cooking." I said.

"Right?" Ranko said and we both laughed. "Just the other day he tried to eat raw burdock!"

"Ha! Seriously?" I asked.

"He kept saying ' Eww, this is so bitter!'. It's a miracle you even survived this long." Ranko said.

"Who cares? It's not like I have to cook." he snapped.

"All you need to do is marry a good cook like Faye and you'll be fine." She said.

"Yeah right!" I laughed.

"Ranko." Tatuso hissed.

"Didn't you use to have a thing for Faye?" Ranko asked.

I looked at him "You did?" I asked.

He turned away as his cheeks turned right red.

He had a thing for me? How did I not know?

"Who cares? The statute of limitations has passed right? I mean we're talking about elementary school here." Ranko said.

"That's true but..." he said.

"I had a huge crush on you too." I stated.

"What?!" he gasped.

"Yeah but it's not big deal." I said.

"Yep! You were Faye's first love!" Ranko teased.

Tatsuro was just turning redder and redder as Ranko kept teasing him. We were so mean to him, he was so easy to embarrass.

"All right, I'm off to work." Ranko said.

"Aren't you off to work as well?" I asked Tatsuro.

"No I've actually got the day off today." he said. "What about you Faye?"

"Yeah I've got a couple days off work due to the head injury." I said.

"You wanna go somewhere together, then?" He asked.

"Sure. Where would you like to go?" I asked.

"I've got two tickets to the Ottoman Empire exhibit." he said.

An hour later, we were walking down the street side by side.

"Now that I think of it, this is the first time you and I went somewhere alone together on a day off." He said. "Usually Ranko's always with us."

"Yeah I guess you're right." I said.

"It kind of feels like a date.."

"Huh?" I asked, I didn't hear what he said.

"Oh nothing, never mind." He said.

I just shrugged and we continued.

"Oh look, it's that park." I pointed.

"We use to play there with Ranko all the time, remember?" He asked.

"Yeah, hey let's go and play on the climbing frame!" I said and ran off.

I got to the park and went over to the swings and started to move backwards and forwards.

"Bet I can get higher than you!" I said and poked my tongue out at him.

"Haha. You're too competitive." He said but he got into the swing next to me and also started to move backwards and forwards.

We moved higher and higher but we both seemed to reach the same height.

"Never mind." I said and jumped from the swing as it moved forwards.

He used his feet and skidded to a stop before standing up from the swing, we both were laughing. It was like we were kids again.

"Faye... I.. I'm.. I'm in love with you." He said.

"Excuse me?" I asked and stared at him in shock.

Did he just say that he was in love with me?!

"Uh.. But.. I'm not saying you have to answer me or anything. Because I know you don't feel the same way."

"Well yeah but.."

"It's ok, I understand. It's fine this way, I just had to tell you how I felt."

"Ok.." I said.

What should I do? I had no idea he felt that way about me.

We left the park and went to the museum.

"Wow! Look at that traditional dress. Is this a tiara? Faye, you like stuff like this, don't you?" He asked.

He was talking to me as if nothing had happened between us, this was so awkward.

"Faye?" He said when I didn't answer.

"Oh sorry, yes I love it." I said.

"Ranko always made paper necklaces when were little, but you use to make paper crowns."

I remained silent, he was trying to make things seem normal but I just felt so bad. He loved me, I never knew and I was betraying him.

"Faye?"

He then ruffled my hair.

"Should we go home for the day?" He asked. "You just got out of the hospital yesterday, so if you're tired I don't want you to push yourself."

"No I'm fine, I want to stay." I said.

"Ok then." he said and smiled.

His eyes were so gentle when he looked at me. I couldn't stand it and I turned to moved away when I bumped into someone.

"Oh sorry." I said.

"No, you're fine." they said, it was a security guard.

I stopped and took a second look at them, was it Hiro?

Tatsuro phone then started ringing. "Sorry Faye, I have to take this." He said and walked off.

I made sure Tatsuro was gone before walked up to the security guard.

"Hidey-ho!" Hiro beamed.

"Hiro? What are you doing here?" I whispered.

He leaned over to me and whispered in my ear,

"I heard you and Tatsuro are shackin' up!"

"We're not 'shacking up'. We're just living together." I said firmly.

"Really? I don't know, you two looked pretty intimate just now.." he said with a teasing smile.

"We do not." I said.

"If you say so. That's not good. Listen, I don't care if you seduce him, but don't let him have your heart. He might seem nice enough but he's our enemy. Remember that."

"I know, I don't need reminding. Anyway, what are you doing here?"

"Recon for the mission." He said.

"There's going to be another mission?"

"Yep! I wouldn't be wearing this for no reason. See you later at Le Renard Noir later." he patted me on the shoulder and walked off.

"You know him?" Tatsuro asked as he returned.

"Yes, he use to work at my museum." I said.

"Oh really?" He asked.

I hope he bought it.

A few hours later,

"That was a really cool exhibit." Tatsuro said.

"Yeah it was." I said but I couldn't look him in the eye.

"Listen Faye, just forget what I said earlier ok? It's obvious that it's bothering you." He said.

"No, it's not bothering me." I said.

"Liar. I can always tell when you're lying by the look on your face. You've always been a terrible liar, ever since we were kids. I just want things to be back to the way they were. We're going to be living under the same roof for a while, I don't want things to be awkward."

"Fair enough." I said.

"Well, I'm gonna stop by the bookstore on my way home."

"Ok, I'm going to go meet some friends." I said.

"Ok, be careful on your way there." He said.

"I will, bye." I said and waved as we parted ways.

I had never felt so awkward in my life! I went to Le Rendard Noir, not everyone was here yet so I decided to draw. I sat at the bar, got out my sketchbook and started to draw Takuto.

"Will you stop drawing me. It's annoying." He hissed.

I ignored him and continued. Kenshi and Hiro walked around and peered over my shoulder.

"Actually, she's done a good job." Kenshi said.

"Yeah, she's got Takuto's glare perfect!" Hiro laughed.

Takuto stormed over and tried to snatch my sketchbook out of my hands, I moved it away so he could grab it. I held the sketch out so he could see it.

"That looks nothing like me!" He hissed.

Kenshi and Hiro both laughed.

"You've got your Gramps blood in you, that's for sure." Boss said and smiled.

"Thanks." I smiled and admired my work.

CHIME CHIME

"Deserted as usual in here, I see." Riki said as he walked in.

"Hey Riki." I said and smiled at him.

Riki pulled out a chair and sat down next to me.

"I'm really sorry about before. Leaving you like that." he said.

He looked upset.

"It's ok. It was my fault anyway."

"So I hear you're staying at Togoshi's place?" He asked.

"Yes."

"You ok?" He asked.

"There's hasn't been a problem yet."

"Good, let's keep it that way." He said.

He then patted my head softly. Why did everyone like patting my head? I didn't understand.

"How's your head? Does it still hurt?" he asked.

"I still have a slight headache but it's fine." I said.

"Then why are you avoiding making eye contact with me?" He asked.

"It's just.. With everything that's happened..." I said.

It's my fault that Tatsuro is on to us, I fell and got caught.

"Are you ok Faye?" Hiro asked. "You look like you're about to cry."

"Her head's so empty her brain is probably rattling around in there after you patted her." Takuto said glaring at me.

I swiftly kicked him hard in the leg.

"Hey! What did you do that for?!"

I poked my tongue out at him and glared back.

Riki chuckled "Her head's pretty hard actually."

"Ok, enough of that. Just have a sip of this tea." Boss said and handed Riki a cup of tea.

Riki smelt it first and pulled a face "What the hell is in this tea? It smells weird."

"It's love-love tea. It's supposed to give you good luck in love." Boss said.

"Huh?! Here, you have it Takuto." Riki said and handed him the cup.

"No way." Takuto said and gave it to Kenshi.

"Hey, why are you passing it to me?" Kenshi asked.

"Don't give it to me Kenny!" Hiro said and passed it to me.

"Here you go Boss." I said and gave it back.

"Hey! Why won't any of you drink it?" He asked sounding upset.

It was times like this that I forgot these guys were thieves, they were so funny. It felt weird, but I felt like I belonged here. It was a strange feeling.

I spent the rest of the evening drawing everyone, Takuto complained but he still sat for me as I drew him again.

The next evening, Riki asked me to meet him at the bar and insisted that I dress up nicely. I put on a skin tight black dress that went down to my knees, black knee high boots and a brown leather jacket. When I got to the bar, Riki was waiting in his sports car.

"Hey." I said and climbed in.

He stared at me and then smiled "So you do know how to dress up?" He said sounding shocked.

"Of course I do. What's that supposed to mean?" I asked and glared at him.

"Don't get angry, this is meant to be a fun evening." He said and before starting the car.

A fun evening? Wait, this wasn't a date was it? I assumed that it would be about another mission.

He took me to an expensive French restaurant, I saw the restaurant in magazines. Only the rich and famous went here. We sat across from each other at a table but a huge window, you could see the entire city below.

"This table has the best view of the night skyline in the whole restaurant." He said.

"It's nice. So, why are we here? I assume you wanted to talk to me about a mission?" I asked.

"Let's eat first, we'll talk after. Go on and order whatever you'd like." he said and opened the menu for me.

I stared at the menu "I can't read it." I stated.

He smiled "Don't worry, I'll order you something that you'd like." He said.

The waiter came over to our table.

"The fillet d rouget roti and the roast duck." Riki said.

"And what will you have to drink?" The waiter asked.

Riki pointed to the menu "This red wine please."

The waiter nodded, took our menus from us and walked away.

I just sat there looking down at my hands, which were on the table. Other than doing missions, I had never been alone with Riki before. I didn't know what to say to him.

"Why do you look so nervous?" He asked.

"I'm not nervous."

"Have you never been on a date with a man before?" He asked.

"Of course I have but is this a date? I thought we were just having dinner?"

"Don't be so particular, you're so hard headed." he said with a smile.

He then reached across the table and squeezed my hand.

"What are you doing?" I asked and pulled my hand free.

"Since you're so inexperienced at dating, shouldn't you at least get some practice?" He asked.

"No!"

"What? You're no fun." he said with a sigh.

He was just teasing me; I knew he was.

"Why did you bring me here?" I asked.

"To discuss the next mission but also to apologise for the other night."

"The other night? You mean when I hit my head? You've already apologised, it's fine." I said.

He shook his head "It's not fine, you must have been scared waking up like that."

I just shrugged "Tatsuro was there so I wasn't really scared and like I said, it's fine."

"Do you have feelings for him? Because if you do, it will only complicate things." He said.

"I know and no I don't. We're just friends." I said.

I decided that it was best that I didn't tell them about Tatsuro's confession, it would just complicate things.

After we finished eating, we moved to the bar counter at the restaurant.

"Dinner was really delicious." I said.

"Right? The food's great here." he said.

He ordered a whiskey and a cigar from the bartender.

"You smoke cigars?"

"Yeah. I don't smoke cheap cigarettes, but I do like expensive cigars." he said.

God he was such a snob.

"Can you not blow smoke over here please." I said and used my hand to wave it away.

"Sorry." He apologised and moved the cigar out of the way.

"Can we talk about the mission now?" I asked.

He narrowed his eyes and started laughing.

"Why are you laughing?" I asked.

"Nothing, okay let's talk..." he began to explain everything.

"Ok so basically gramps left behind a bunch of his work before the war and one of the paintings is particularly valuable." I said.

"Yes. Your great-grandfather donated some of his paintings to museums and gave others to valued patrons. But he made sure not to sell them to someone who just thought of his art as money. But many of those paintings got stolen in the post war chaos or taken by bad guys. But he tried to hide his masterpiece somewhere, a portrait called 'Lady of the Camellias'."

I recognised that name somewhere.

"Have you heard of it?" He asked.

"Yeah but I don't know where from."

"There are a lot of people who are after your Gramp's work. He left on one clue for us to find it, 'if you collect three paintings, you'll solve the mystery of Lady of the Camellias'."

"You mean the ones called Cherry Blossom, Lily of the Valley and Flowering Dogwood?"

"Yes, they were all stolen by different people. Our first objective is to recover the cherry blossom. Once we've recovered all of the paintings and we find his masterpiece, we can then focus on his invention."

I nodded.

We then returned to the Le Rendard Noir.

"Woohoo! Welcome back Riki, Faye!" Hiro beamed.

Takuto was there as well, he was sat at the table eating.

"You guys here again?" Riki asked.

"My day doesn't end until I eat Boss' fried chicken." Hiro said.

Takuto glanced at us as he slurped up pork noodles. He then started choking.

"Are you ok?" I asked and pounded him on the back.

"Owww! Don't hit me so hard!" he snapped.

"I thought you were choking. Try and be more grateful." I said.

"You two look so lovely dovey, I'm jealous." Hiro said.

"Huh?"

"Are you stupid?" Takuto hissed.

"But since Faye hit you, you stopped choking." Hiro said. "I know it's pretty primitive, but it's effective right?"

Takuto didn't respond.

"Hey, come eat with us Riki and Faye." Hiro said.

"I have to get up early tomorrow, so I'm taking a bath and going to sleep." Riki said.

"Aww, you're no fun." Hiro said. "You don't have to work tomorrow, right Faye? Let's drink together."

"Ok." I agreed.

"C'mon! Sit down, sit down." He said and patted the seat next to him.

I sat in-between him and Takuto, Hiro gave me a bear.

"I'm not giving you any pork noodles." Takuto said.

"I didn't ask for any." I said.

I was tempted to stick my fingers into his bowl of food but I resisted the urge.

"You went on a date with Riki, right?" Hiro asked.

"It wasn't a date, he took me out to apologise for what happened at the museum and to discuss the next mission." I said.

"How are things between you and Tatsuro?" Hiro asked.

"Fine." I lied.

This morning, I made sure that I left the house early so I didn't have to see him and I had been ignoring his calls and texts. I still couldn't face him after he told me that he loved me.

"What's up?" Hiro asked.

"Oh nothing." I said and downed my beer.

I didn't want to go back to the house and see him.

"Can I stay here tonight?" I asked.

"Sure!" Hiro beamed.

After we had finished drinking, I was shown to a small room with bunk beds. I crawled into the bed and instantly crashed out.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

The next morning, sun light poured into my room. I sat up and stretched and glanced at my phone, I had several missed calls from Tatsuro and Ranko.

I had made them worry, I needed to call them. I didn't want to talk to them so i sent them a text explaining that I got drunk and stayed around a friend's house.

I then headed downstairs.

"Good morning." I said.

Takuto was sat at the bar and glared at me when I came in.

"In a bad mood?" I asked and sat next to him.

"Shut up and leave me alone. I had to stay up through the night to finish my work." He hissed.

I just shrugged.

I needed breakfast.

"Riki made some miso soup and he said for you to eat some."

"Oh ok."

I walked around the bar, opened the lid of the pot and peeked inside.

"It smells so good! Would you like some?" I asked.

"Yeah." He said.

We sat side by side and started to eat the miso soup. He had put white onions and fried tofu in it, so he could cook as well. Who knew?

"It's so good. Riki's a good guy isn't he?" I said.

"Unlike you, when I choke me pats me on the back gently." He said.

I smiled "Sorry."

"It's not funny. One of these times, you're gonna break my back."

"I doubt that but fine, next time I won't hit you so hard."

"Don't hit me at all!"

After breakfast, I went back to Taturso's house. I was thankfully that no one was home. I had a shower, got dressed and decided to start cleaning when I got a text from Riki. There was an emergency meeting about a mission, it was a lunch meeting at kasumigaseki. It was about my Gramps work. I was glad, so far the only missions I had done hadn't actually involved my Gramps. But now, we were finally getting my Gramps work back.

In the afternoon, all of us gathered at a park in kasumigaseki.

"I didn't know there was such a nice place by the city office." I said.

"You're so carefree, remember this is about a mission." Takuto said.

We had met at the car entrance and decided to walk in together.

"Now now, Takuto. Being outside every once in a while is nice, right?" Boss asked as we joined him in the park.

"You're always sitting in front of the computer." Boss said.

"That's right, you need to see sunlight once in a while." I said.

Takuto sneered.

"Here are the lunch boxes! This is fried chicken and these are the sandwiches." Hiro said.

He joined us and we spread out the food on a blanket in the grass.

This was so casual, no one would ever think that this was a meeting of thieves.

"You guys are acting like this is a picnic." Riki said.

"Oh, hey Riki!" Boss said.

"I'm here on my lunch break in between classes Riki." Hiro said. "Oh and Kenny said he can't make it."

"Sorry to call you out so suddenly. I finished up all my work in the morning so I could be here. So let's start from the objective. Tomorrow we're going to recover the painting Cherry Blossom." Riki said.

"But why so soon? Why tomorrow?" Hiro asked.

"I got some info about the painting this morning. The current owner is planning on selling it. A mafia dealer is coming to them next Monday."

"I see, so we have to get the painting back this weekend." Boss said.

"I've done a detailed simulation. Hiro did a recon of the museum a few days ago, the painting is hanging up in one of the rooms there. Takuto, open your laptop." Riki said.

Takuto opened his laptop and everyone crowded around the screen.

"I sent you the simulation. Here's the blueprints of the museum." Riki said.

He gave us detailed explanation of the blueprints.

"And that's the plan."

"I see, sounds like a fairly easy mission." Boss said.

"But if we let this opportunity go, we might never recover 'Cheery Blossom." Riki said.

"I understand the plan. But why do we have to bring her?" Takuto asked looking at me. "We don't need her fingerprints, right?"

"But the museum might have Lady of the Camellias in it's collection too. Also, she works at a museum so she's very familiar with art." Hiro said.

"She's just a curator." Takuto said.

What was his problem?

"The probably of Lady of the camellias being there is low, but you're saying we're gonna bring in this amateur to get in our way?" Takuto said.

"You don't have to talk like that Takkun. Faye is one of us now." Hiro said.

"I don't accept her as one of us yet." Takuto said.

"Takuto." Riki said firmly.

"What?"

They both glared at each other.

"Faye's coming, end of story." Riki said.

"Whatever." Takuto said.

"All right, so then the mission is on for tomorrow Saturday night." Boss said.

"I'm going home to prepare for breaking into the security system." Takuto said.

"Why don't you take a walk in the park while you're out here?" Riki suggested.

"A walk?"

"You're always shut up inside, you need to get more sunlight. If you don't get enough sunlight, you'll get osteoporosis." Riki said.

"Leave me alone."

Riki then whispered in my ear

"Ask him to go on a walk with you."

"Fine." I agreed.

I had nothing else to do and I didn't want to go home incase Tatsuro was there.

"Takuto, Faye says she wants to go on a walk with you." Riki said.

"What? Why?" Takuto asked.

"Have fun you two." Riki said with a smile.

Everyone then left, leaving us alone.

"Why the hell do I have to go on a walk with you?" Takuto asked as we walked through the park.

"Because like Riki said, you need to get more sun and some fresh air." I said.

"The sun's too bright, my eyes hurt." he complained.

Did he do nothing but complain?

I ignored him. My phone then rang, I got it out from my purse. It was Tatsuro. I sent it to voicemail and we continued.

"Aren't you mad about before?" He asked.

"Before?" I asked.

"About what I said, that your nothing but a curator and that you're an amateur."

I just shrugged "You're kind of right, I mean on the last mission I ended up getting hurt and I am just a curator."

"Hmm." He said thoughtfully.

"I don't have special skills like everyone else, I just like art. I'm just a normal girl, living a normal life." I said.

"You sound like an old lady."

"An old lady?!"

"I mean.. You're just not like most young girls." he said.

"What does that mean?"

"You seem like the kind of person who likes fruit cake."

"I do like fruit cake but I like normal sweets too." I said.

"Really, then I'll buy you some." he said with a smile.

He pointed to a nearby ice cream stand. He bought me a green tea ice cream, we walked side by side each eating our own ice cream.

"You picked green tea ice cream.. See you are an old lady." he teased.

I poked my tongue out at him and continued eating.

"You better not get in our way tomorrow." he said.

"I'll do my best." I said.

"I guess.. It's nice to walk under the sun every once in a while. It was more fun than I thought it would be." he said.

After the walk, I headed home. I couldn't hide forever. I opened the front door and found Tatsuro sat on the sofa.

"Hi Faye." He said nervously.

"Hey." I said.

This was so awkward.

"I'll just go to my room." I said and walked past him.

"Wait." he said and grabbed my hand as I passed the sofa.

He stood up and jumped over the back of the sofa so he was stood next to me,

"I know you've been avoiding me."

"No I-"

"I know when you're lying Faye, you're avoiding me because of what I said. I want things to be like they were." He said.

"So do I." I said.

"Good then how about we get a takeaway and watch some of our favorite movies? Ranko isn't here she's working late tonight." he said.

He looked so sad, I must have hurt him so much. I wish I could tell him everything, then he'd understand.

"I'd love to but only if we get pizza." I said.

He smiled "You love pizza, it was the only thing you ever order when we have a takeaway." He laughed. "Let me guess, you want watch Titanic?"

"You know me too well."

We stayed up late into the night eating pizza and watching our favourite films, things felt just like they always did. I cuddled up next to him on the sofa and ended up putting my head on his lap as we watched Titanic.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

It was the night of the mission; we were sat inside the van. As usual, the foxes sent a threat but I was surprised by the lack of guards around.

"What's the museum like inside, leader?" Hiro asked.

"Hmm.." Riki said.

He was peering into the yard through a pair of binoculars.

"Looks like they really hate cops. They're saying that there's only 3 guards today." He said.

"Huh? You can hear them from this far away Riki?" I asked.

"Riki's an expert lip reader." Kenshi said.

"Really? That's so cool!"

"I can't read word for word but I can usually get the gist of what they're saying." He said.

"It's so cool!" I said.

"Pfft. You're overreacting, it's not a big deal." He said.

"It is a big deal, it's like you're a spy or something!"

"I can do it to." Takuto said.

"Huh?"

"The computer can read lip movements and if it can extract the data, it can output sound." He said.

"Why are you sulking, Takkun?" Hiro asked.

"Hahah, he's jealous because she complimented Riki." Kenshi laughed.

"Am not!" Takuto snapped and glared at Kenshi.

Why would he be jealous? Oh well, I didn't really care. I just wanted to get this mission over and done with.

"Accessing security camera servers. IP acquired, proceed at any time." He said into his microphone.

"It's time, let's go." Riki said.

"I'll get into position." Hiro said.

"See ya Takuto. The rest is up to you." Kenshi said.

"Don't screw up." Takuto said.

They all left the van.

Takuto was sat at his computer, typing incredibly fast. My eyes couldn't keep up with his fingers.

"Are you going to oversee everything from here?" I asked.

"I don't go out in the field. I leave the dangerous stuff to them and sit back and enjoy." He said.

He opened a bar and started eating a snack. How could he be so relaxed?

"What? You want some?" he asked.

"No." I said.

"Even if you did, I won't give you any." He said.

"I didn't ask for any." I said.

He then started to choke. I hit him on the back but he continued.

"W-water… go…gonna….die.."

"But we don't have any water." I said.

"Vending… machine.."

"Ok, I'll go and look for one." I said.

He then grabbed my arm and handed me a map.

"Follow the pink line." He said.

"Ok." I nodded and jumped out of the van.

How annoying. He shouldn't be eating snacks during a mission anyway.

Two minutes later, I had a bottle of water and was running back to the van. This road was completely deserted. Takuto must have known that before he sent me out.

A dark figure then came out of the bushes next to me.

"Excuse me but… Faye?!" Tatsuro gasped.

I stopped dead in my tracks.

"Oh hey." I said and put on my best smile.

He must be here because of the threat.

"Why are you here?" he asked.

"I'm just taking a walk." I said.

"Our house is miles from here." He said.

"Yeah but I felt like going on a long walk. I even got water." I said and held up the bottle.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"I'm working a case, the black foxes sent a threat to the museum. You should get away from here. Right now!"

"Ok, see you at home." I said and run away.

He seemed to have bought it. I jumped back into the van and gave Takuto his water.

"You're too late." He said and snatched the water and the map from me.

"Well excuse me. Next time I'll just let you die." I snapped back.

I closed the door and looked back at the computer screen, the guys had broken into the museum.

"It's completely deserted in here." Kenshi said through his transceiver.

"I thought that too. All the guards seemed to have disappeared." Hiro said.

"They might be hiding so they can all come out at once." Riki said.

"No, the passive sensors aren't reacting. There's literally no one there." Takuto said.

But how could that be? We just saw guards a few minutes ago, plus I just saw Tatsuro so the police knew something was happening.

Takuto then started typing on his laptop.

"Breached first line of security." He said.

"Roger." Kenshi said.

"2nd door breached." Takuto said.

He was really good!

"Takuto if the security is being breached, why aren't the alarms going off?" I asked.

"Your brain finally starting to work, huh? I've been wondering that the whole time." He said.

"No matter how good you are at hacking, the alarms would react from outside access." I said.

Otherwise what would the point in having security at all?

"Don't you think this is weird?" Riki asked.

"This is too easy." Hiro said.

"There's not one guard around." Kenshi said. "Anyway, I got the painting."

"I have a bad feeling, Kenshi retreat." Riki said.

Just then, there was a loud explosion.

"What the?!" Riki gasped. "Whoa!"

"What's wrong?" Takuto asked.

"I don't know! Something exploded!" Riki shouted.

"Run!" Kenshi shouted.

"What's going on?" Takuto asked.

"What happened? A bomb?" I asked.

It couldn't be the police, they wouldn't do that.

"C'mon! We gotta get out of here!" Takuto shouted.

"But shouldn't we wait for the others?" I asked.

"No, we have to ditch the car and run!"

He grabbed my arm and we got out of the car.

"C'mon, run!"

BANG

"Ooh!" I cried out.

A large gust of wind hit my back.

"Damn it!" Takuto shouted.

He pushed me to the ground and covered my body with his, shielding me from the blast. I looked over his shoulder and saw that the van was on fire!

"Hey, are you ok? Can you stand?" he asked.

I nodded and tried to stand but my legs felt like jelly and I fell back to the floor.

"Tch.." He sighed.

"Ooh!" I gasped as he scooped me up into his arms.

"Don't look down. Close your eyes and hang onto me." He said.

I closed my eyes and wrapped my arms around his neck as he ran.

We returned to the restaurant.

"Heard it got pretty crazy." Boss said.

"Is everyone back?" Takuto asked.

"Somehow." Riki said.

"That scared me!" Hiro said.

"What was that bomb?" Kenshi asked.

I could still feel my heart pound, I just couldn't find the energy to speak.

"Faye, are you ok?" Boss asked.

I gave a slight nod.

"Looks like she's in shock." Boss said.

"That's never happened to us before either." Hiro said.

"Not only did the exhibition hall get destroyed but so did our van." Kenshi said.

"Someone must have planted that bomb on our car." Riki said.

I couldn't stop thinking about it, if Takuo hadn't saved me I could be dead.

"Takuto.. Thank you for saving me." I said.

"It's fine. I just did what anyone would do in that situation. But you're so annoying, I should've just left you there and brought the computer instead."

I glared at him "That's horrible. You're saying the computers are more important than me?" I asked.

"What do you think?" He said with a smile.

He was teasing me, no matter what he said he saved me over the computers.

"Well, were we able to get the painting?" Boss asked. "So everything turned out fine in the end."

"You seem pretty relaxed, Boss." Riki said.

"Well, he's right. We checked it out at the scene and it's real." Kenshi said.

Riki took the cloth off the painting.

"Damn it!" Riki said.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

I looked at the painting, it was scorched.

"We went to all that work stealing it and it got burnt!" Hiro said unhappily.

"It's value will definitely plummet now." Boss said.

"What a waste." Takuto grumbled.

I starred at the 'Cheery Blossom' something didn't seem right.

"Who was behind that explosion anyway?" Riki asked.

"Hmm.. There's too much we don't know." Boss said.

"Guys, I think this painting is a fake." I said.

"What?!" Riki gasped.

Hiro then looked at the painting for a second "I think you're right Faye."

"Are you serious?" Riki asked.

"Are you sure?" Boss asked.

"Yeah. A technique has been used to make the painting seem older then it actually is. It's definitely fake." I said.

"I agree. But the one I saw the other day, was the real thing." Hiro said confused.

"Someone must have replaced it after receiving the threat." Takuto said.

"That sounds likely, most likely the owner or somebody else." Boss said.

"Could it be the same person who planted the bomb?" I asked.

"There's a possibility." Takuto said.

"They wanted to get rid of us with the bomb and if that didn't work, fool us with the counterfeit. Would the owner go to those lengths?" Kenshi asked.

Explosions.. Counterfeits... why would some do this just for Gramp's painting?

"Let's call it a night." Boss said.

Hiro sighed "This leaves a bad taste in my mouth."

"There's too much unexplained." Riki said.

I needed to go home, Tatsuro and Ranko were probably worried. I stood up when Kenshi stopped me.

"Hey wait Faye, I'll walk you home." He said.

"No It's ok." I said.

"No It's could be dangerous and Tatsuro's apartment is on my way home." He said.

I nodded and we left the bar together. We walked home in silence, we finally stopped outside Tatsuro's house.

"Thanks Kenshi." I said.

He ruffled my hair and smiled "Don't look so glum, we'll get your Gramp's painting back, no matter what!"

I smiled "I know we will."

"Good, get a good night sleep." He said.

We hugged goodbye and I let myself in. I closed the front door and Tatsuro was waiting in the living room.

"You're finally home. Welcome back Faye." He said with a relieved smile.

"Hey, you're back from your case so soon? Did you catch the black foxes?" I asked.

"No, they set off a bomb and escaped. I'm glad you're home safe, you were late so I was worried that you got caught up in the explosion."

"I didn't even realise there was an explosion. Was anyone injured?" I asked.

"No, thankfully. I'm… just so glad you're ok. So glad…" he said and his hand fell into his hands.

He looked so tired. His stomach then growled loudly.

"Oh.."

"Are you hungry?" I asked.

"Yeah, I came right over as soon as I got off work. Hey, will you stay up with me? I don't want to eat alone." He said.

"Sure." I said.

"Great, ok. Gimme your hand." He said.

"Why?" I asked.

I held out my hand, he grabbed onto it and pulled himself up.

"You sound like an old man." I said.

"Who cares? I'm weak from hunger. Let's go." He said.

We left the apartment together and ended up in our favourite play park eating takeaway food.

"Ahhhh. This is just a normal burger but it's sooooo good." He said.

"Has it really been that long since you've eaten?" I asked.

"About… a day."

"Seriously? That can't be healthy. It must be rough being a detective." I said.

"Nah. It's the perfect job for me. And I get to go home tonight, there are still some guys working the scene." He said.

"The black foxes case?" I asked.

"Yep. I really wish we could have caught them tonight." He said.

He crumpled up his paper napkin in his fist.

"Do you really think the Black Foxes are so bad?" I asked.

"What?"

"Well I mean.. don't they say the Black Foxes only steal for the greater good?" I said.

"Even if it is for the greater good, a crime is a crime." He said firmly.

"But.."

"Are you trying to sympathize with criminals Faye?" he asked.

"No I just…"

He was right, they were criminals but they were also good men.

"I'm sorry, that was harsh. But no matter what you think, and no matter what society says about them… to the police the black foxes are criminals. I won't budge on that because I'm a detective." He said.

"I know, you're just doing your job." I said.

The guys were right, Tatsuro was our enemy and that was just how things had to be.

"Hahah. I'm sorry. I asked you to come with me and we're talking about this." He said.

"It's ok."

"Why don't we talk about something more fun? Whoa!"

"What is it?" I asked.

"Crap. I accidentally ate the tomato."

"You still don't like tomatoes. Tatsuro!" I said.

"So what? You don't have any room to talk. What about you and celery?"

"Who cares about celery?" I said.

"Haha. That's not good. Celery has lots of fibre. You should eat more celery since you usually eat nothing but meat." He said.

"That's not true." I said.

"Ok, so if you had a choice between a pork cutlet and a bowl of simmered veggies, which one would you chose?" he asked.

"Pork cutlet." I said.

"See?" he said and laughed.

"Oh shut up. Who on earth would choose veggies over pork cutlets?" I said.

"But… that's one of the things I like about you." He said.

I looked at him, he was being weird again.

"You've got some dressing here." He said and wiped the bottom of my lip with his thumb.

"Thanks…." I said and looked away.

"Hahah. That never changes about you Faye." He said.

"I don't know."

"It doesn't. When you were little you always had ketchup or mayonnaise on your mouth. And seaweed. Not just on your mouth but all stuck in your teeth.."

"Ugh! Shut up." I said and playfully punched him on the shoulder.

It felt like we were friends again, just like when we kids.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Next day, I did a shift at Kenshi's restaurant and in the evening I went to the Le Rendard Noir and we discussed the next mission. Riki explained that they had discovered the real location of the Cherry Blossom, a politician called Ozawa had stolen it and was keeping it in his house. Just as before, he showed us the blue prints of the house and explained the plan in full detail.

The next night, we were all waiting in a van outside the mansion. The mansion was huge, how were we going to find the painting?

From Riki had told us, Ozawa had the real painting here and sold the museum a fake one. Thankfully after the bomb, Ozawa had put off selling the painting to a mafia by a few days.

"There are 3 security cameras around the exterior wall. Here." Takuto said.

Just as before, he was sat at his computer typing away. He must have been concentrating, he had a very serious look on his face. I wondered if I was going to stay here with him again. I couldn't stop thinking about that bomb, I hoped that it wouldn't happen again.

"Roger. Boss, cut the power lines nearby. So it should cause a temporary power outage to the area." Riki explained.

There was a bright flash and after a short time, all the nearby lights went out and the whole neighborhood was plunged into darkness.

"All right, Hiro you're on." Riki ordered.

"Ok." Hiro said.

We watched the video coming from the camera pinned onto Hiro.

"What's going on here? Looks like a power outage." A guard said.

"Hey, where are the candles?" another asked.

Hiro pressed the button on Ozawa's intercom.

"Yes, who is it?"

"I'm from the power company, some power lines are damaged and here's a blackout in the neighborhood. I need to climb your fence so I can repair the power lines." Hiro said.

"Ok, I'll ask the man of the house."

After a while, someone who appeared to be Ozawa came out into the yard.

"Hey! Why is there a power outage?" he demanded.

"We're searching for the cause right now, do you mind if I climb your fence here to take a look at the power line?" Hiro asked.

Ozawa looked skeptical.

"You have security cameras here, don't you? If I don't get the power up and running, your house will be insecure." Hiro said.

"Oh all right, all right. You can climb over, just hurry up and fix it."

"Thank you sir." Hiro said and bowed politely.

Soon after, a man who appeared to be a security guard came outside.

"That guy is guarding the back, so that means security inside the house is light." Takuto said.

The computer screen then switched to an image of the interior of Ozawa's mansion.

"I've accessed the security system's feed."

"Can you see video from all the cameras?" Riki asked.

"Yeah." Takuto said.

Riki stared at the computer screen.

"This is where the paintings are hanging." Riki said and pointed.

There were numerous famous paintings hanging on the walls.

"No one's on the east side of the yard, we'll sneak into mansion from there and make our way to that room." He said.

"All right, let's go." Kenshi said.

"You're coming with us Faye." Riki said.

"What? Really?" I asked.

It was nice they were trying to make me part of the team but wouldn't I just get in the way?

"You're really taking her?" Takuto said.

"Hey, didn't we already have this discussion? Faye is coming with us." Kenshi said.

"Takuto, don't worry I'll protect her." Riki said.

Riki then grabbed my arm.

"Listen to me, don't leave me side for a second." He said firmly.

"I won't." I said.

"Come on, I'll teach you everything you need to know." He said.

I nodded and we got out of the van.

"All right, no guards here." Kenshi said.

He easily scalped the wall, I just stared in amazement. He made it look so easy, he was like Spiderman.

"Freya, grab on." He said and held his out of me.

I started to climb and grabbed his hand, he pulled me up easily and I jumped over the wall and landed on my hands and knees in the garden.

"Let's pick the rear door and enter the mansion." Riki said.

"Got it." Kenshi said.

I followed them into the mansion.

I couldn't believe it; this was my first mission in where I actually broke into a place. It was kind of exciting. I knew I shouldn't feel excited about this but I did, I didn't know why. It was a strange feeling.

"Riki, come in." Takuto said over the radio. "There are no guards on the eastern hallway. Go straight and you'll find the center room."

"Roger." Riki said.

A few minutes later,

"We're in front of it Takuto. There's an electric lock on the door." Riki said.

"That lock runs power from a generator so it'll still be on even though there's a power outage. I'll tell you how to disarm it." Takuto said.

Riki obeyed Takuto's instructions, he pressed a few button and the lock bleeped opened.

"It's open, let's go in." He said.

We walked into the room, there were countless paintings all over the walls.

"Wow, all of these are famous paintings. Oh, the one on the right, that's 'Cherry Blossom'." I said and pointed.

"Wait!" Riki said loudly.

I went to step into the room but Riki grabbed my arm and stopped me.

"What's up?" Kenshi asked.

Riki didn't answer, he took out a small ball from his pocket and threw it into the room.

"Whoa!" I gasped.

Lasers shot out from the wall and hit the ball.

"Ooh. Damn it. I didn't know he had this." Kenshi said.

"I though the security was light compared to how many valuable paintings he has." Riki said.

If Riki hadn't stopped me from going in, I would have been burnt alive by those lasers. I stood there in stunned silence. Riki then gently placed his hand on my shoulder.

"Don't worry, I said I'd protect you, didn't I?" he said with a gentle smile.

I only nodded and took a deep breath to calm my nerves. I was thankful to have Riki and Kenshi with me, otherwise I'd probably die of fear.

"Takuto, the room's equipped with lasers. Can you disable them?" Riki said.

"Lasers huh? They didn't show up on the security profile. I'll try to hack into the system and disable the lasers."

"I'll leave it to you then." Riki said.

After a few minutes,

"Hey, you done? If you take that long, a guard will come." Kenshi said.

"I need more time, the firewalls strong. So I can't get into the system." Takuto said.

I twiddled my thumbs and fingers nervously, if we got caught we would be done for. Every second felt an eternity till..

"All right, it's disabled." Takuto said.

The lasers disappeared.

"Good job. All right, Kenshi hurry up and put the painting in the case." Riki said.

"Ok." Kenshi said.

They both started to take down the painting.

"Wait." I said and stopped them.

"What is it?" Kenshi asked.

"This is another fake." I said.

It looked almost identical to the first one we stole.

"What? Are you serious?!" Kenshi said.

"Yes." I said firmly.

"I can't believe, another counterfeit. But why?" Kenshi said looking annoyed.

"He must have the real one somewhere." Riki said.

"But how will we find them? We're running out of time." Kenshi said. "Damn it! We're so close!"

Kenshi then punched the wall and there was a loud thud.

"That sound.." Riki said.

"That's what I thought too." Kenshi said.

"Sound?" I questioned.

"There's something on the other side of this wall." Riki said.

He crouched down and examined the surface of the wall.

"There's a hidden button." He said.

"A hidden button?" Kenshi said.

Riki pressed it and the painting swung out, hiding an identical painting behind it.

Ozawa must be really desperate to keep his paintings safe to go to all this trouble.

"That's the real one." I said.

"After what happened at the museum, Ozawa must have set this trap with the counterfeits. Pretty smart." Kenshi said.

Riki smiled and ruffled my hair.

"That was amazing, the way you saw through it." He said.

"Thanks." I said and smiled back.

"Kenshi, put the originals in the case." He ordered.

"Roger." Kenshi said.

We ran back into the yard with the paintings stashed in the case.

"Let's hurry and get out here. Who knows what could happen next." Kenshi said.

We raced to the exit when suddenly a guard noticed us.

"I saw someone over there."

A bunch of men started running towards us.

"Shit they found us. We were too sloppy. Kenshi, take her and get out of here." Riki ordered.

"Riki!" Kenshi protested.

"I'll take care of these guys." Riki said.

"Take care of them? You're outnumbered and they might have weapons." I said.

"Just get out here."

"But-"

"Don't worry, I'll come back. I promise." He said confidently.

How could he be so confident in this kind of situation?

"Faye, let's go." Kenshi said.

He grabbed my army and pulled me along with him.

"Hurry up!"

"I'm coming." I said and started to run.

I looked back at Riki and silently hoped that he would come back safe.

Five minutes later,

"Riki's not back yet?" Hiro asked.

Boss was silent.

"What if he got caught by the guards?" Hiro said.

"It's been five minutes. If he doesn't come back in two more minutes, let's go." Boss said.

Were they serious? What would happen to him if he got caught?

Takuto silently put his arms around my shoulders.

"Don't worry, Riki's stronger than you might think." He said.

He was actually being nice, I was shocked. I turned and halfheartedly smiled at him.

"1 minute 30 seconds." Hiro whispered as he stared at his watch. "1 minute 40… 45… 50… 55…"

Just then, the door opened with a bang and Riki came flying in.

"Sorry I took so long, Kenshi, let's go."

"Riki!" I beamed and couldn't help but smile.

"Roger." Kenshi said and floored the accelerator and we sped away.

The van raced through the sleeping city.

"Your lip is cut, Riki." Takuto said.

"It's been a while since I got into it with guards like that. But this is just a scratch." He said and wiped blood from his lip.

"You're such a stud Riki. I bet you knocked 'em all out." Hiro said and laughed.

"I'm glad you came back safe." I said.

He smiled and ruffled my hair.

"Told you I'd come back, didn't I?" he said.

His arrogance made me laugh, he was amazing. I guess that's why he was the leader of the black foxes.

After we arrived back at Le Renard Noir, we had a party to celebrate the successful mission.

"Cheers!" Kenshi said.

"I'll arrange for the paintings we recovered to be sent back to their original owners. And those that can't be returned will be donated to national museums." Boss said.

"I'm glad." I said.

"This is all because Faye realized that they were fake. Surprisingly, she actually is a curator." Kenshi said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I demanded.

Kenshi just laughed.

"Hey, I dare you to a drink contest." I said to him and placed a shot in front of him.

"Challenge accepted."

He downed the shot without any hesitation, he then poured me a shot. I did the exact the same. As we got to our third shot, Hiro said;

"By the way. What is this? Some kind of code? On the back of the painting?"

There was a string of numbers and letters written on the back of the painting.

"It looks like some kind of code." I said.

"Gramps said if we got all three paintings, we'd solve the mystery of Lady of Camellias. Right?" Kenshi said. "So maybe if we line all three up, it'll make sense."

"Yeah probably. When we get all three, I'll put it in a program and try to break the code. Then we'll definitely find 'Lady of the camellias." Takuto said.

"Whoa, it's pretty rare to see you so enthusiastic." Kenshi said.

Takuto just stared at me.

"What?"

"Nothing." He said and looked away.

I shrugged and me and Kenshi continued out drinking contest.

An hour later, I was helping Kenshi up the stairs. We drank too much together, he could barely walk.

"Kenshi, you're really heavy. At least try to walk." I said.

He laughed "Sorry. You're a good drinking buddy, there aren't many people who can out drink me." He beamed speaking loudly.

We reached the top of the stairs, I walked to the nearest empty room and dumped in the bed. I headed back downstairs and walked past Riki's room, he was sat on the sofa staring at the 'Cherrry Blossom' painting. I hadn't even noticed that he wasn't downstairs with us.

"I was just appreciating the painting here by myself." He said.

I walked into the room and joined him on the sofa. He was holding a glass of wine in his hand, I took it from him and took a small sip. It was good wine.

"Enjoy the party? You and Kenshi seem to be getting on well."

I just shrugged and gave him back his glass "He makes a good drinking buddy but he needs more practice if he's going to beat me in a drinking game." I said.

I then looked at the painting, it had been a long time since I had actually seen my gramps work.

"You can feel such deep love in this painting. Can't you?" I said.

I reached out and gently touched it. I ran my fingers over every stroke, every details. I could easily imagine my gramps painting this. In the painting, there was a little girl stood alone in a street lined with cherry blossoms in full bloom. She was smiling.

"You can tell the artist was looking upon the model very kindly." I said.

"Yeah but I don't know … don't you think the little girl kind of looks like you?"

"Hm? I don't know. It's hard to say." I said.

"She has the same aura as you, the same smile." He said.

The girl in the painting was smiling, she looked as happy.

"Do you know what the cherry blossom means in the language of flowers? It means 'smiling at you'."

"Really?" I said and smiled at the painting.

It was so beautiful; it was almost like I was sitting in gramps studio watching him work.

I went home not long after, I snuck in and went straight to bed. I felt bad, I had hardly seen Ranko and Tatsuro since I moved in. I was either working in the restaurant or with the black foxes. The next morning, I was sat on the sofa drawing when Ranko invited me out to lunch.

"I'm so glad we're doing this." I said.

"Yeah, it's been a while since we've seen you." Tatsuro said.

"It's because we're so busy. Are you still chasing the black foxes?" Ranko asked.

"Yeah but I don't have any leads on them. Or the explosion from before." He said.

That was a relief.

"What explosion?" I asked.

"Didn't you hear? The black foxes tried to steal from a museum and they set off a bomb. The police say the black foxes did it but I don't believe them." Ranko said.

"Why?" I asked.

"It's not their usual MO. I think someone is trying to set them up."

"Don't talk about things you don't understand." Tatsuro said.

"What?" Ranko said and they both started arguing.

I couldn't help but laugh and they both stopped and looked at me.

"I'm sorry, I've missed this." I said.

"Yeah, it's like we're back in school again." Ranko laughed.

"How about tonight, I cook us a nice meal and we'll watch our favourite films?" I said.

They both smiled.

"That sounds nice." Tatsuro said.

He looked relieved, I bet he thought that I was still avoiding him after he confessed his feelings to me.

"All right, time for me to get back to work." He said.

He then sighed heavily.

"There must be clues somewhere…" he mumbled.

He was working so hard to try and catch the black foxes and here I was, lying to him. Deceiving him. I was a horrible person.

"If it was that easy to find clues, anyone could be a detective. Ha, I wonder if there's a good scoop somewhere?" Ranko said.

"You two really are brother and sister." I said and laughed again.

"That's rude." They both said at the same time.

Tatsuro left us, leaving just me and Ranko.

"Are you still working at that restaurant?" she asked.

"Yeah, but the museum should be opening either tomorrow or the day after. My boss text me this morning. I'm looking forward to going back."

"I bet, when are you next working?"

"Later on today. I'll be done by the time you and Tatsuro are back, I'll buy the food for our meal. You guys get the alcohol and choose the films." I said.

She laughed "I can't wait."

That evening, I made us all curry and handmade naan bread. Tatsuro bought alcohol and Ranko chose the films. We were snuggled up onto the sofa with a blanket over us, just like when we were kids. I was sat next to Tatsuro, it was getting late and I was tired. Tatsuro shoulder looked so comfy. I snuggled up next to him and rested my head on his shoulder.

Before I knew it, I was fast asleep. I awoke to the feeling of something touching my hair. I opened my eyes, I was lying on Tatsuro's lap and he was stroking my hair.

"Sorry, did I wake you?" he said.

I sat up and stretched, I then turned and saw that it was only 4am.

"No, it's alright. I should probably get to bed." I said.

"Ok." He said and looked away.

Things were awkward again.

"Tatsuro.." I said and took hold of his hand. "You know that I care about you right? You're my friend."

He smiled and squeezed my hand back "I know."

"Listen, I've been meaning to discuss a few things with you. Things have been really awkward lately and I think it's time I went back to my own apartment." I said.

"What?" he gasped and looked upset.

"It's just… too awkward being around you all the time. I think things would be better if we spent some time a part."

He looked away for a moment but then nodded and turned back.

"You're right."

"Good, I'll tell Ranko tomorrow." I said.

I hugged him good night before I went to bed.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

The next morning, Ranko wasn't exactly happy but she couldn't say no. I said goodbye to them both before I collected my things and went back to my own apartment. It was so dark and felt so empty. I turned all of the lights and sighed.

It felt weird being back here, it felt kind of lonely. Why did I feel so lonely? I was looking forward to going back to my own place. I unpacked, did a load of laundry before I went out and did some shopping and filled my fridge with food. I then sat down on my sofa and started to sketch Tatsuro and Ranko.

As I finished my drawing, I get a text from boss.

"I found out where the second painting 'Lily of the valley' was being kept. Come to the bar ASAP."

I slipped my book into my bag and went straight to the bar where the others were waiting.

"Three years ago, 'Lily of the valley' was bought by the president of an IT company, Mr Ebata. This is after it had changed hands many times, through either theft or being sold." Riki said.

"Ebata, I've heard of him. He's called the King of the IT business. He doesn't strike me as a person who loves art." Kenshi said.

"Yeah, Ebata buys art as a means of tax evasion." Riki.

How terrible, how could someone use art like that?

"So he's basically pocketing all that money?" Kenshi asked.

"Yes but the government found out about his plan, and I received info that he's going to be arrested with the next few days. If he's arrested, his art will be seized by the government to provide evidence of his tax evasion. So we need to recover 'Lily of the valley' before that happens." Riki said.

"Where is he hiding it?" Hiro asked.

"A vacation home in Karuizawa. He's going to have a party there this Saturday."

"A party? When he's about to be busted for tax evasion? What an idiot." Hiro said.

"Nah, the party's just a front. Ebata knows he's going to be arrested, so he wants to get that art out of there. If he has a party, there will be all sorts of delivery trucks there. Catering, alcohol. So he's going to use that as a distraction to haul the paintings out of his house." Riki said.

"I see. So we're going to use that opportunity to get the painting for ourselves." Hiro said.

"Yes, I'll explain the simulation I made in detail now." Riki said and pulled out his laptop.

15 minutes later,

"That's it. Meet here at noon on Saturday."

"Roger." We all said.

I had work later on today but when I finished, I would have to go back to my empty apartment. Maybe I moved out too soon from Tatsuro and Ranko?

"Hey Faye, don't you go back to the museum today?" Riki asked.

"Huh? Oh yeah, everyone's doing a late shift. My boss wants to explain about the next security system etc."

"Why are you spacing out? Didn't get much sleep last night?" he asked.

"Not really. I stayed up late watching films with Tatsuro and Ranko." I said.

"Ooh. Well, don't push yourself." He said.

"I won't, thanks." I said.

"All right, I'm off to work. See you Saturday." He said and left the bar.

"Here's some coffee, Faye. I'm sure you want some too, Takkun." Boss said and poured us both coffee.

"Thanks." I said and happily gulped it down.

Takuto sipped his coffee but then started to choke.

"Are you ok?" I said and slapped him on the back till he stopped chocking.

He slowly looked up at me and starred.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing…" he said.

I didn't have work for a few hours and I didn't want to go back to my empty apartment, I stayed in the bar and happily drew customers till it was time to go to work.

It was quite an easy first shift, my Boss basically showed everyone around and explained the new up to date security system. I didn't really get it, it looked exactly the same as the old one. The only difference was that this once required our fingerprints. They had moved some of the exhibits around and they had tightened the security in storage as well.

For the rest of the week, things seemed to get back too normal. I would wake up in my apartment, go to work and then come home. I hadn't heard anything from the Black Foxes or Ranko and Tatsuro. The mission wasn't till Saturday so I didn't exact to hear anything from the Black Foxes, but why hadn't Rank at least texted me?

"This pattern is actually considered late gothic rather than from the renaissance Era." I explained to a guest at the museum.

"Is that so? That really helps a lot, thanks." They said.

"I'm glad I could be of help." I said and they walked of happy.

"Excuse me, do you have a brochure I could look at?" another guest asked.

"Oh yes, here it is." I said and handed them one from a rack.

A few hours later, I finished work and everyone was leaving.

"Faye, good work today." One of my co-workers said.

"Thanks, you too." I said.

"You really worked hard this week, huh? Make sure you relax this weekend."

"Thanks." I said and waved as they walked off.

I wish I could relax this weekend, this weekend I was doing another mission. I pulled out my phone, I had a text from Ranko.

She apologized for not texting, she had been busy with work. I sent her a text back, she replied immediately. I leaned up against a street light and we texted back and forth continuously for at least ten minutes.

It was like she was right next to me. I wondered what Tatsuro was doing? Should I ring him?

"Hey, Faye." Someone said.

I looked up and saw Takuto stood in front of me.

"Oh hey. What's up?" I asked and put my phone away.

"You've got tomorrow off work right? Let's go for drinks."

I was taken back; he was certainly forward but I was dying for some company.

"Sure, lead the way." I said.

He took us to a small restaurant.

"The pork noodles here aren't bad." He said.

"I can't wait to try them." I said.

A waiter returned with a remorseful look on his face.

"I'm sorry. I know you ordered 2 pork noodles, but this is the very last bowl." He said.

"Oh, that's fine. Don't worry about it." I said.

He set the bowl down and left.

"Takuto go ahead and-"

"You can-"

We both spoke at the same time.

"I'll eat whatever you don't want." He said.

"But.."

"It's fine, go ahead and eat." He said.

He was smiling at me, why was he being so nice? He was never nice to me.

"All right, thanks." I said.

I broke the chopsticks apart and started to eat.

"Whoa. These are delicious. The flavor is really rich." I said.

"I know right?"

His smile grew bigger, he was actually quite cute when he smiled.

"Ow!"

He suddenly hit my forehead with his closed fist.

"What was that for?" I asked.

"You were depressed before, weren't you?"

"Huh?"

"When you hit my back the other day when I was choking, it felt weaker than usual." He said.

It did? Did he come all the way to my work just to cheer me up? So he could be nice?

"Did something happen between you and the detective?"

"I moved out and now I'm back in my own apartment." I said.

"And?"

I just shrugged "I dunno, I guess I feel a little lonely. I really enjoyed living with them."

"So why did you move out?"

Could I tell him? It's not like it was a secrete or anything.

"Tatsuro confessed his feelings for me and things were just weird between us so I felt that I should move out." I said.

He looked surprised.

"He confessed that he loves you? It's probably good thing that you moved out. What did you say back?"

"I told him how I felt. We're just friends, nothing more." I said.

But even though things were awkward between us, I really missed having him around.

"Want some Sake?" he asked and poured me a bit of hit sake. "I had this kind before, it's really good."

"Why are you being so nice to me? Do feel sorry for me or something?" I asked.

"I never act nice to someone out of pity." He said but he refused to go into more detail. "Drink up." He said and poured me another drink when I finished my first one.

"This is really nice." I said and happily downed the cup.

"Gimme the rest of your pork noodles." He said and took the bowl away from me and began to eat.

"I'll eat carefully so I don't choke."

"Haha. That sounds like a good idea." I said.

I had never seen this side of him before, it was nice.

It was the night of the mission, we were all watching Ebata's vacation house from a distance.

"This place is huge, his company must be doing well." Kenshi said.

"So well he's trying to not pay taxes on it. Guys like him should be punished." Hiro said.

"You all remember the simulation, right?" Riki said.

"Yep! You and Faye go into the party, check on Ebata. Meanwhile, we'll park our car on a nearby road and ambush the truck carrying the paintings." Kenshi said.

"The truck is disguised as a catering truck. There's only one road going to and from the mansion, so it has to pass by where you'll be parked." Riki said.

"We'll pretend that our van stalled and that we're stranded. And right as they get out of the truck, we'll put them to sleep with tranquilizer gas." Hiro said.

"Yep and then check the contents of the van." Riki said.

"This mission'll be a piece of cake. They're so worried about the police they're never going to expect being robbed by the Black Foxes." Kenshi said with a confident smile.

"I hope everything goes that well." Takuto said.

"Takkun, are you worried about something?" Boss asked.

"No, there's just no guarantee that everything will go according to plan. We just need to prepare for that." Takuto said.

"Takuto's right, there might be trouble. So everyone needs to be on high alert. All right, let's go." Riki said.

"Oh my god, look at all the people here." I said.

We were stood in the ballroom, everyone was wearing fancy gowns and suits. A group of people were dancing on the main floor, a buffet had been placed around the edges of the room and a bar was in another room whilst a band played at the back of the hall.

"It's easier to throw the police off with all the comings and goings. Come closer." Riki said.

He grabbed my shoulder and pulled me in.

"The story is this, we're supposed to be a couple, remember?"

"Oh yeah. Why is that again?" I asked.

"Would someone come to a party like this alone? Coming as a couple looks more natural."

"Fair enough." I said.

We started to make our way around the party.

"Why are you walking so stiffly?" he asked.

"I'm not use to wearing stilettos, so my feet are hurting." I said.

"Are you ok?" he asked.

He crouched down and peered at my feet.

"I'm fine, or I will be once I get these shoes off." I said.

"Grab onto my arm." He said.

He was such a worrywart but I took his arm and leaned on him.

"Faye!"

I turned and saw Ranko and Tatsuro. I immediately removed my arm from Riki.

"What a coincidence, I didn't think I'd see you here." Ranko said.

"What are you guys doing here?" I asked.

"A friend invited me. I thought I would come to meet some people, expand my network of information, y'know?" she said.

"Fair enough."

"But I didn't want to come to this party alone so I asked Tatsuro to come with me." She said.

"It's nice to see you Faye. You look lovely in that dress." Tatsuro said with his normal lovely smile.

"Thank you." I said.

"And who's this?" he asked and looked at Riki.

"I'm Riki Yanase. It's very nice to meet you. Are you two friends of Faye's?"

"Yes, my name is Ranko Togoshi, and this is my older brother Tatsuro. We've been friends since we were children."

"Is that right?" Riki said with an odd smile on his face.

What was he smiling about? I knew he was playing the stranger act, he knew exactly who they were.

"Excuse me for asking, but how do you know Faye, Mr Yanase?" Tatsuro asked.

"I'm her boyfriend."

"What?" Tatsuro gasped and then looked at me in pure shock.

Why did he say that? He could have just said we were friends.

"Owwww!"

Ranko then hit me on the shoulder.

"Hey, why didn't you tell me you had such a wonderful boyfriend?" she asked.

"Um well…."

"We just started dating, right Faye?" Riki said and put his arm round my shoulders.

"Uh yeah. It's a recent thing." I said.

I kept my gaze low, I could feel Tatsuro's eye on me. I couldn't bring myself to look at him, he must feel so upset.

"I can't believe you're dating Faye. You're gorgeous." Rank beamed.

I hated lying to them, why did they have to be here?

"C'mere Faye." Ranko said and she pulled me aside.

"What?" I asked.

"Don't give me that, I thought we were best friends. Why didn't you tell me?"

"Well we only started a few days ago. I didn't want to mention anything till it was finale." I said.

"Anyway, he's so hot. You don't see guys like him too often." She said.

I looked at Riki, I've seen plenty of guys hotter then him.

"Really?" I asked.

"Yes. When did you meet him? Tell me all the details later ok? And ask him to introduce me to one of his friends."

"Sure." I agreed.

They both left and me and Riki were finally alone.

"Hmm. So the sister is a newspaper reporter and the brother's a detective." Riki said.

"Yeah, sorry I didn't know they'd be here."

"Nothing to apologies for, it's not your fault. But it's not exactly good for them to have seen us here either. Are you still living with them?"

"No, I moved out nearly a week ago. Things were getting complicated." I said.

"How so?"

"It doesn't matter. I've moved out and things are better now." I said.

"Is it because you have to keep lying to them?" he asked. "In this situation, we had no other choice but to say we were dating."

"I know but…"

"If I didn't say that, your detective friend would have followed you around all night. It must be hard living with a guy who's in love with you."

I instantly looked up at him with a suspicious glare, he knew how Tatsuro felt? Did he know why I really moved back into my own apartment? If they thought Tatsuro was a problem, would they do something to him?

He got out his phone and sent a text.

"Nothing out of the ordinary here, Ebata's chatting with guests. Contact me later."

Twenty minutes later, Riki received a text from Kenshi.

"Mission complete. They've received the object in question as planned, now we just need to get out of here and meet them at the van." He said.

"Thank god, I can't wait to get out of these shoes." I said and lead the way out of the party.

The mission was the easiest so far, just like Kenshi had said.

"Ooh, we've got trouble." Riki said.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Don't look behind you." He said.

"You can't say that and not expect me to look." I said.

"That detective is following us." He said.

"What? Why?"

"I think he wants to question you." Riki said. "He might want to see if you're really dating me or not."

"What? Well what should we do? Run away?" I asked.

"That'll make him even more suspicious and I don't want him to tail us." He said.

"So, what are we going to do?" I asked.

"Shaking him off will be easier than running away."

He then pulled me into an embrace.

"What are you doing?"

"It's just pretend, just pretend to kiss me." He said.

He pulled my face close and kissed me right to my lips.

I wasn't sure what to do, so I just stood there frozen till he released me.

"See? He's leaving."

I turned around and saw Tatsuro walking, he must be really upset.

"He looks really sad." I said.

"I guess it's natural to be shocked when you see the woman you love kiss another man."

I glared at him and then looked back at Tatsuro, he had already gone back inside the party. I didn't want to hurt him but the more time I spent with the Black foxes, the more I hurt him.

"Are you mad?" Riki asked.

"Yes."

"I couldn't help it, it was for the mission."

"I know." I snapped back.

This wasn't fair, Tatsuro didn't deserve this. I turn on my heel and stomped off towards the yard. My feet were killing me that I was almost limping.

"Wait." Riki said and then I felt myself float as Riki scooped me up in his arms.

"You're dragging your feet, they hurt right?"

"Well yeah but I can walk by myself. Put me down." I said.

"Let's just pretend you can't." he said.

I started to struggle, I didn't want him to carry me. It was embarrassing.

"If you keep struggling, I'll just drop you." He warned.

I sighed and folded my arms "Fine."

"What a good girl you are."

I glared up at him and held up my middle finger. He was taking too much pleasure out of this.

It was the middle of the night by the time we arrived back in Tokyo.

"Lily of the valley' is a really nice painting." Kenshi said.

"Yep. He used the same model as in 'Cheery Blossom'." Riki said.

In the painting, it was the same young girl dozing off in a chair. A bunch of beautiful lilies of the valley were arranged in a vase on a table in front of her.

"In the language of the flowers, the lily of the valley means 'Return to happiness.'" Riki said.

I was sat in front of the pain and ran my fingers around the girl. She looked so sweet and innocent, I could almost feel my Gramps' passion as he painted this.

"The girl does look happy." Riki said.

"And I'm sure the artist was happy as he painted the girl's sleeping face." I said.

"Yeah. Now we just have to get the final painting and solve the code." He said.

"Well, it's late so let's get some sleep." Kenshi said.

"What? We're not gonna celebrate?" Hiro asked.

"Unlike you, some of us have work tomorrow." Kenshi said.

"Faye, you're off tomorrow right? Let's drink!" Hiro said.

"You know what? That sounds like a great idea." I said.

"When you want to go bed, you can use my room. I'll sleep in another room." Riki said.

I looked at him, was he trying to make up for what he did?

"Thanks." I said and smiled briefly at him before I went to bar and poured myself and Hiro a beer.

We stayed up nearly all night drinking. I woke up in Riki's bed feeling like I was going to die. I went to the bathroom and had a quick shower before I headed home. I made myself a cup of tea and spent all day in bed. I sent a text to Hiro,

"I'm dying because of you."

He replied;

"Same to you."

I was surprised by how good he was at drinking; skinny people don't normally hold their alcohol well.

The doorbell then rang.

Who could that be?

I got out of bed and opened the door and there stood Tatsuro.

"Hey. What's up?" I asked.

"Hey, you look rough." He said.

"Thanks. I drank a lot last night, anyway come in." I said.

I stepped aside so he could slip past. I closed my front door and turned to face him.

"Would you like a drink?" I asked.

"No thanks. Listen… that guy I saw you with at that party in Karuizawa. He's an official at the Ministry of Finance isn't he?"

"Um… I don't really know him that well."

"I heard from a friend who works in Kasumigaseki that Yanase is very successful, but he's also a playboy."

"You were looking into him?" I asked.

"I was worried about you." He said.

Tatsuro was a good a detective, if he poked around in Riki's history too much he might find out that Riki is a Black Fox!

"You didn't need to do that. This is none of your business." I said.

"Of course it is! I'm your friend. You first move out and we don't hear from you and then you suddenly turn up with this guy. You've already been attacked once, I don't want you to be hurt again." He shouted.

"Look, me and Riki just went on one date. He's a friend, we're not going out so it's fine. You don't need to worry." I said.

"Then why did he say he was your boyfriend?"

"I don't know, it's just what Riki does. He's a jerk." I said.

Tatsuro looked a little relieved before he took hold of my hand "I won't let a guy like him have you."

I pulled my hand free "That's not your decision to make."

"Faye, you know I love you." He said.

"I know. Look, I just want things to go back to the way they were. Us being friends." I said.

He looked down at the floor "Things will get back too normal, I promise. I'll see you later."

He smiled at me before he left my apartment. Hopefully, I managed to convince him to leave Riki alone.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

The next morning, I was sat in my apartment having breakfast when my mobile started to ring.

It was Mitsuru.

"Hey. What's up?" I said.

"What's going on Faye?" he asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Why didn't you tell me? How could you just quit like that?"

"What are you going on about?" I asked.

"The least you could've done was tell me first."

Ten minutes later, I stormed into the bar opened the door with a kick.

"Sorry, we're not open yet. Oh Faye, it's you." Boss said.

I glared at him "You!"

"What?"

"Don't play dumb. I just spoke with the employment agency. They said a very flirty-sounding man called them up this morning and said 'Faye Stone has run away to France so please accept her resignation from the museum'!"

"Huh? You heard it was a flirty guy and you came to me first?"

"You're the only one that sprung to mind." I said.

I moved around the bar to grab him but he quickly moved away.

"Haha I see."

"This is no laughing matter!" I shouted and threw a bottle of salt at him.

"Hey!" he shouted and ducked.

"Call the employment agency right now and fix it, if not I'm going to lose my job!"

"Hmm. I'm sorry, there's nothing I can do." He said.

"Why not?" I shouted and moved in the other direction to try and catch him but he moved away again.

"Because, look at this." He said and handed me a map "I looked it up, according to your birth day, it's your directional fortune."

"What?"

"You've been working at Kenshi's place right? Well there is his house and here is the museum. That an unlucky direction." He said.

"That was your reason?!"

"What? You shouldn't underestimate directional fortunes. If you travel in an unlucky direction, terrible things could happen to you. This is for you."

"Why are you giving me a creepy doll?"

"A good luck charm, to protect you. This doll will protect you from any unlucky event."

I looked down at the doll before ripping it's head off. I then threw the doll at him before punching him in the face.

"Oww! Hey! That's so mean. Why did you punch me? And my doll, it took me forever to make that."

"You are unbelievable." I shouted and stormed out of the bar.

I couldn't believe this, how could he do this? I loved my job at the museum, more than anything.

As I walked I banged into someone.

"Oh sorry." I said.

"Faye?" Kenshi said.

"Hey." I said and sighed.

"What's up?" he asked.

I explained about what Boss did.

"I can't believe him! How could he do that? But I'm going to fight it. If I call the agency and explain everything…"

"Wait." Kenshi said.

"What?"

"I'd like you wait." He said.

"Why?" I asked.

"When all this over, I'll make sure you get your old job back. So…. Can't you just accept the situation?"

"Accept the situation? I don't have a job thanks to boss. And why do you want me to wait?"

"I can't tell you that but I promise I'll tell you when the time comes. But as for a job, you can always come back to the restaurant. My mum's been asking for you." He said.

I folded my arms and glared at him, why did I get the feeling that I was being set up? They were up to something and they weren't telling me about it.

"Hey, I know what'll cheer you up." He said with a bright smile on his face.

Twenty minutes later,

"Ugh… so heavy.." I said.

"Come on, you can do it!" he cheered.

"Stop encouraging me. There's no way I can carry ten 2 litre bottles." I said.

We were stood outside a sports stadium and I was helping him unload things from the van. When he said that he wanted to cheer me up, this wasn't what I had in mind.

"But Riki and Boss were busy. Hiro's out somewhere and I feel bad asking Takuto to help." He said.

"Huh? Shouldn't you make him help before asking me?"

"Do you really think he could carry something this heavy?" he said.

I paused and thought before nodding.

"Yeah I see your point. He is kind of a beanpole."

"Right? Takuto's more of an indoor guy anyway. I can count on you more for this kind of thing." He said.

"That's not really something a girl likes to hear." I said.

"Oh I guess you're right. Hahah, sorry!"

"Anyway, when you said you wanted to cheer me up I thought.."

"You thought what?"

"I thought we were going to go out for food." I said.

"Food? I brought us some lunch. Gen and I made some onigiri." He said.

"Oh really?"

"Yep. We some tuna and mayo ones. You like those right?"

"Yes I do. Thanks!" I said and smiled.

"Anyway, shall we go?" he said.

"Why are we going to a baseball field? Do you like baseball or something?" I asked.

"No it's not baseball today." He said.

We went inside the stadium and there were men playing football.

"You like football?" I asked.

"Yeah, I played football in military school." He said.

"You went to military school? That's cool." I said.

He did seem the type to go to military school and play sports.

"Is this your first time seeing a game?" he asked.

"Yeah."

"Ok, after we bring the drinks I'll explain the rules." He said.

Kenshi went down to the field and we brought the 2 liter bottles with us, he was instantly greeted by his friends.

"Hey guys, I brought you some stuff." He said.

"Thanks." One said.

"Is Nomura here?" Kenshi asked.

"Yep, he's over there." One said and pointed.

"Thanks. Hey Faye, I'm gonna go say hi to him. Can you wait here?" Kenshi said to me.

"Sure." I said.

He walked off and I sat down on the seats and tried to follow the game. I didn't understand why people would enjoy chasing a ball around a field. And there were cheerleaders dancing around, their skirts were really short.

"This is so boring…" I said and looked at my watch.

I wondered how long he was planning on keeping me here. The ball only moved a little bit at a time and the players just kept getting into a huge jumble.

"Why do you have that look on your face?" Kenshi asked.

"Because I'm bored." I said as he sat next to me.

"Haha. I'm sorry, I guess it would be boring to watch if you don't know the rules." He said.

"Yeah, I don't get the game at all." I said.

"Ok, I'll give you the basics." He said.

He summarized the rules for me.

"So if they get the ball over there, they score?" I asked.

"Yeah."

"Ok and there's offense and defense. The offense has four tries to move the ball ten yards." I said.

"Right and if they don't get it, the ball goes to the other team. So the defense tries their best not to let them get down the field." He said.

"Ohh. So that's why the ball doesn't move much." I said.

"Haha. Yeah, the speed is completely different from a soccer game, huh?"

"What position did you play?" I asked.

"Tight end. Look, I was over there on that side. Tight ends have to catch the ball from their quarterback and be able to block the defense. It's a pretty important position." He said.

"Cool." I said.

"So they have to be good all-around players. Know all the strategies… hey, I'm trying to be serious here. What are you grinning about?"

"I'm sorry it's just… kind of cute by how serious you are about football." I said.

"Huh? Cute?"

"Yeah, didn't you have a kid like that in grade school?" I asked. "The kid who was always enthusiastic about sports he couldn't stop talking about it? That's how you're acting today." I said.

"What, like a kid in grade school?" he said.

His cheeks flushed red.

"Haha. I'm sorry." I said.

"Kenshi?" a woman said loudly.

"Hey, long time no see." Kenshi said and smiled at her.

She must be one of Kenshi's friends, they seemed close.

"Supporting you alma mater today?" she asked.

"Yeah, how about you?"

"Same, a friend from the cheerleading squad invited me." She said.

"Oh, cool." Kenshi said.

"Who's this?" the woman asked and turned and looked at me.

"Her? A waitress at my restaurant."

"Really? She's not your girlfriend is she?"

She then started to glare at me. What was her problem? Did I look like Kenshi's girlfriend?

"Hey Kenshi, you want to go out to dinner sometime?" she asked. "Please? It must be fate for us to run into each other again."

"Fine. Call me and tell me whenever's convenient for you. I'll invite a bunch of people too." He said.

"Huh?" the woman gasped confused.

"Yeah, we should all go out and have fun. Right?"

"I guess, see ya later." She said and slowly walked off. She looked a little deflated.

"Later." Kenshi said.

I looked at Kenshi and then at the woman, did that just happen? Did he purposely do that or did he not realise that she was asking him out?

"She was asking you out, you know." I said.

"I know but things would get too complicated if we went out alone. I don't want her to get the wrong idea." He said.

"Fair enough."

"I find things like that annoying." He said.

"Why?"

"If I go out with a girl, she'll get the wrong idea and then I'll have to explain to her that I don't mean anything by it… and I might as well not go out with her at all." He said.

"Fair enough." I said and nodded.

"You're the only girl I want to go out with alone Faye." He said.

"Huh? Why?" I asked.

"Because I know you won't get the wrong idea, right?"

"I suppose."

There was no way I'd ever go out with him or any of the black foxes, it would just be weird.

"You're like one of the guys. But I'm sure someone will show up and they will treat you like a woman." He said with a smile.

"Thanks. But when and where?" I asked.

I instantly thought of Tatsuro but with everything, I couldn't let him get close to me. Maybe if things were normal, we would have stood a chance?

"Haha, well if no one else shows up, I'll be your boyfriend. What do you think about that?"

"Hm.. you as my boyfriend…. I don't know if I could go out with someone who can't handle their alcohol. I mean I have beaten you in two drinking games now, so if you want to be my boyfriend you'll have to step up your game." I said.

We both burst out laughing.

I liked being with Kenshi, I could just be myself with him. I didn't have any other guy friends except for Tatsuro.

"Hey, what about Tatsuro?"

"What about him?" I asked.

"How are things going between you two?"

Why did he want to know?

"Fine, I moved out from his apartment. I don't think he suspects me being a black fox or anything so things are good." I said.

"Good. Has he asked you about anything?" he asked.

His happy expression suddenly turned serious.

"No." I said.

Which was a lie, I hadn't told them that I ran into him on one of the missions.

"Good. You need to be careful, he might get in our way at some point in the future. He's a detective and we're thieves." He said.

"I know, that's why I moved out." I said.

"Good and don't worry. We won't get arrested and we won't harm him."

That's exactly what I was afraid of. Tatsuro was a good a detective and I knew if he became a problem, the guys would have no issue sorting him. The guys were so nice, I had to constantly remind myself who and what they were. They were criminals that were basically holding me hostage.

"Tatsuro's really important to you."

"Yeah."

"Ha! You admitted it." He said.

"No, it's not like that. He's my friend." I said.

"Don't you think of him more than just a friend?"

"Why the sudden interrogation?"

"Haha! I was just joking silly. Even though we're the black foxes, we're not mind readers." He said and ruffled my hair. "But how do you real feel about him?"

"Why are you interested?" I asked.

"There are just a lot of things I want to know."

"What? About the kind of people I like?" I asked.

"Yeah, it'll be the perfect conversation to have over drinks at Le Rendard Noir." He said.

Why was he so interested? I wondered if the guys were using him to dig for information?

"Tatsuro isn't a joke." I said.

"He's your first love. I can see why you liked him. Good grades, always number one in the relay races. But he was bad at dodgeball. Why? Because he didn't want to hurt anyone. That's the kind of guy all the girls love in grade school."

"How did you know all that?" I asked.

"Can't say but don't worry, nothing will happen to him. So don't worry about it." He said.

He was acting weird, this had to be down to the foxes. What were they up to? If they harmed Tatsuro in anyway, our deal was off. I didn't care what they would do to me.

A few uneventful days' passed, I had been working at Kenshi's restaurant and would occasionally go out for drinks with everyone at Le Renard Noir. I saw Ranko yesterday and we went shopping.

Today, I was at the restaurant doing an extra shift. Kenshi's mum Satoko had rung me and asked me to come in.

"Thank you so much Faye." She said as I getting changed into my kimono.

"It's alright, I don't mind." I said and smiled at her.

"I'll make sure you get an extra day off next week." She said.

"Thanks." I said and she left the staff locker room.

I went to the kitchen where the cook Gen was waiting.

"Take this bowl to the Cherry Blossom room, please."

"Sure." I said.

"I thought you had the day off today, Faye?" he asked.

"Satoko asked me to do an extra shift." I said.

"Oh I see." He said.

I took everything on a tray and went to the Cherry Blossom as instructed.

"Sorry for the wait." I said.

The room was filled with men, all wearing suits, they didn't look Japanese. They must be in some kind of business meeting.

"This is winter melon sauce." Sakoto said as I placed the tray down.

"Ohh. What a big winter melon!" a man beamed.

He looked quite cute, he had sleek brown hair that he had gelled back. He wore a white suit with a black shirt.

"Yes." Sakoto said.

He didn't look Japanese, but his Japanese was perfect and he was the only one using chopsticks. Was he the interpreter for the meeting?

He then smiled at me before I left the room.

"Faye, how were the guests in the Cherry Blossom room?" Gen asked when I returned to the kitchen.

"They said all the food was delicious." I said.

"Good, good." Gen said and smiled.

"There have been a lot of foreign guests lately." I said.

"Yeah, I have to keep that in mind when I make their food. But todays guests seem to be used to Japanese food." He said.

"Really?"

"Yeah, when they made the reservations they seemed familiar with the fish dishes and the sweets." He said.

"There was one man whose Japanese was really good." I said.

"It was probably him who made the reservation then." He said.

The manager then came into the kitchen.

"Faye, can you get the serving trays from the Camellia room?"

"Sure." I said and left the kitchen.

I walked along the hallway, searching for the Camellia room. I was so distracted I accidently banged into someone.

"Sorry." I said.

"You're fine."

I looked up, it was the man from the Cherry Blossom room who spoke good Japanese.

"You're the beautiful girl from before. You're so gorgeous. So, so beautiful." He said.

"Oh well thank you. You aint too bad yourself." I said and smiled.

He was quite hot!

"My name is Sean Kim, and you are?"

"Faye Stone."

"Faye Stone?" he said and grinned before he took my hand and planted a soft kiss on it.

"I love Japan and I love Japanese food." He said.

"Thanks…" I said and pulled my hand away from him.

He was a bit full on, but maybe that was a cultural difference?

"Ginza and Shinbashi… are becoming more international, right? It would be even better if they built more big buildings and shopping malls here." He said.

"I guess." I said.

But there were already a bunch of shops around here, so that wasn't going to happen.

"Then see you later. Sayonara!"

"Bye." I said and waved as he walked off.

He was weird, I wondered where he was from? England? America maybe?


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

The next morning, I was sat in my apartment watching TV as I ate my breakfast.

"We're reporting live from the scene. The truck crashed into the fence surrounding the orphanage here. Running right over a child who was playing inside." The reporter said.

I spat out my tea and nearly chocked. That was the Lily center that Kenshi took me to. Kenshi must be so worried. I got out my mobile and rung him.

"Hey."

"Hey, I just saw the news. Is everything ok?" I asked.

"No. The child that was run over requires at least three surgeries but the truck driver was uninsured so he can't pay anything towards the medical bills." He explained.

"I'm so sorry and what about repairing the damage to the building?" I asked.

Kenshi was silent. "Damn it. Why did something like this have to happen? Ikuo always works so hard."

"Why don't you talk to boss? Maybe there's a mission you can do to get money." I said.

"No."

"Why not?"

"We don't steal things just to get money. We steal to get wrongs right again. And sometimes we end up with money as a result. If we're after money from the beginning, it destroys everything we stand for. So I'm not going to talk to boss and the others about this." He said firmly.

I understood how he felt but if he told the others, they would want to help.

I decided to go to do some drawing. I first walked around outside and drew the street before I moved to the park and draw kids playing on the play area. I then spotted Kenshi walking through the park.

"Hey, Kenshi." I shouted and ran up to him.

"Hey, how you doing?" he asked and then looked down at my sketch book. "Drawing again?"

"Yeah. Wanna look?" I said and opened the book and showed him drawings.

"You've really got a good talent Faye. You're wasted working at a museum." He said.

"Nah, I'll never be as good as Gramps. Where are you going? You doing ok?" I asked.

He just smiled "I'm fine. I'm going to the Le Rendard Noir for lunch, want to join me?" he asked.

"Sure." I said and we walked together.

"Welcome!" Boss said as we came in through the door.

"Hm? What are you two doing together?" Hiro asked.

"Coming to eat lunch with Faye." Kenshi said.

"I was drawing and ran into Kenshi and we were both hungry so we decided to come together." I said.

"Faye… Kenshi… since when are you guys calling each other by your first names?" Hiro asked.

"Hm? Dunno, just recently I guess." I said and shrugged.

"Really? I feel like it's been longer than that." Kenshi said.

"I think around the time we went to Gondawara's house." Boss said.

"That's right, on the way home in the car." I said.

"You're right." Kenshi said.

"Sounds like you two had a blast while I was pretending to be Rose, entertaining perverted old guys." Hiro said.

"Who cares?" Kenshi said and started to turn red.

"Now, now. Who cares what you two call each other? What'll you have today?" Boss asked. "Takkun isn't here, so I have pork noodles left."

"Where's Takuto?" Kenshi asked.

"Out to do some recon." Boss said.

"It's about time for our next mission." Hiro said.

"To find my Gramps third painting?" I asked.

"No, not exactly." Hiro said.

An hour later,

"Ok, I'll explain our next mission. Our target is the actress Nahomi Sahara." Riki explained.

"What?" me and Kenshi both said at the same time.

"What's with you two?" Riki asked.

"Actually I'm.." Kenshi said.

"I'm a huge fan of here." I said.

"Huh? You too Faye?" Kenshi asked.

"Yeah. Remember when she played that detective? She was great!" I said.

"No way. I liked her better in innocent roles, like that morning drama.."

"Uh sorry to rain on your parade, but she's actually a nasty one." Hiro said.

"What? Why?" I asked.

"First, she has 3 lovers." Takuto said.

"Lovers?" Kenshi said.

"And two pimps." Takuto said.

"Pimps?" I gasped.

"And we know she's financially backed by the mafia." Boss said.

Me and Kenshi just stared at them in shock.

"Haha! You two really are fans, huh?" Hiro laughed.

"I'm a terrible judge of character." Takuto said.

"So what are we going to steal.." Riki said.

"Let me explain this part. It's a diamond ring called 'The Swan's Eye'." Hiro said and placed a picture on the counter.

"It's beautiful." I said.

"It's a memento that belonged to a famous actress. It's highly valued because of its craftsmanship and when her family tried to donate it, Nahomi Sahara heard about it and used any and all means possible to force them to give it to her." Hiro said. "That kind of person deserves to be punished, no?"

"So anyway, the mission will go down tomorrow night. Here are the blue prints for her condo." Riki said.

"The entrance is auto-locked, right? In order to get through that.." Kenshi said.

"No problem, I can access the security system from the outside. That part's a piece of cake." Takuto said.

"That part?" Kenshi asked.

"The problem is after we get inside. The target has man complicated locks on her doors." Riki said.

"How do we get through them?" Kenshi asked.

"Bust them down." Takuto said.

"Obviously, we can't do that. So look." Riki said and pointed to a place on the blue print.

"Air ducts?" Kenshi said.

"These are extra-large and designed to better sound proof the condo, so the higher floors can't hear what's going on." Riki said.

"Which means?" Kenshi asked.

"There's barely enough room for a person to pass through. So if you go from here you'll come through the ceiling in the bathroom." Riki said.

"So we'll take out the ceiling tile, enter the room and open the locks from the inside?" Kenshi said.

"That's it." Riki said.

Sounded simple enough, hopefully they wouldn't need me to come on this mission. Especially since this didn't involve my Gramp's painting or invention.

"But the problem is, who's going to crawl in the air ducts?" Hiro asked.

"We're all too big. The only one who could fit is.." Takuto trailed off and everyone all turned and looked at me.

"What? Me?" I said.

"Yeah, if you suck in your gut." Takuto said.

"Gut?! I don't have a gut!" I growled and went to punch him but he moved backwards and avoided my punch so I kicked him hard in the leg.

"Oww!"

"So, how about it Faye?" Riki asked.

"Ummm…."

"Don't think you can suck in your gut enough?" Takuto asked.

"Do you want me to give you a dead leg? Because I will! If anything, my chest is too big not my stomach."

"Hey, don't say that out loud." Kenshi said.

"Ugh! I'm so annoyed, I'll do it!" I said.

"It's settled then." Riki said.

It was the day of the mission; I was sat in the van with the guys.

"Let's go over this once more. The target is Nahomi Sahara. We're after the diamond ring called 'The Swan's Eye'." Riki said.

"How long do we have?" Kenshi asked.

"1 hour from 9pm to 10pm. Takuto. Kenshi, Stone and I will enter the building and search. How's the security?" Riki asked.

"Working on it. You should be able to get in the entrance with this key. I've switched off the security cameras, so you don't have to worry about that." Takuto said.

"Ok, we'll get past the auto-lock and go up to the 6th floor." Riki said.

"And then I climb up into the air ducts." I said.

"Right. Once you get inside, hurry up and unlock the doors for us." Riki said.

"Got it."

"We'll search for the ring together, if the targets happens to come home.."

"Then it's showtime for me." Hiro said.

"Right. So it all depends on how fast you can unlock the doors for us Faye. We're counting on you." Riki said.

"I know, I won't let you down." I said.

We got out of the van and walked up to the condo.

"Whoa, these condos look really expensive." I said.

"Nahomi Sahara lives here. Huh… the air duct is up there." Kenshi said and pointed.

"Gimme your hand, Kenshi. Faye, we'll give you a boost so you can climb in the air duct." Riki said.

"Ok." I said.

"Don't rush, just be careful." Kenshi said.

"I will." I said.

They pushed me up as if I weighted nothing and soon I was in the vent.

"Whoa, it's pitch black in here… I need to find the second column… and turn there…. Ceiling tile, ceiling tile…"

"Faye, are you in? You're a minute behind schedule." Riki said through my ear piece.

"I got it." I said and started kicking the tile till it fell down.

"Good job."

I jumped down into the bathroom and ran to the door and unlocked all 6 locks.

"Sorry I took so long." I said as I opened the door.

"Good job. Let's hurry and search for the ring." He said.

We all started looking. It had been 30 minutes but still nothing.

"Find it yet?" Riki asked.

"Nope, nothing. You?" Kenshi asked.

"We've looked everywhere. Takuto, are you sure it's in this room?" Riki asked.

"I'm positive, saw it on the infrared glasses when I did recon." Takuto said.

Infrared?

"Oh, the new model? It's amazing you made something like that." Riki said.

"I just modified something from china, simple really." Takuto said.

"You made your own infrared glasses? That's really cool. Can you see anything with it?" I asked.

"It can see what we're trying to steal, kinda like x-ray glasses." He said.

"Is that all it can see?" I asked.

"I put in the data about the ring, so that's all it can recognize. It can pass through about 3 walls with no problem."

"Wow, that's really cool." I said.

"Yeah? So where are these glasses?" Riki asked.

"I… let Hiro borrow them." Takuto said.

"Go get them!" Riki and Kenshi both shouted at the same time.

Riki then sighed "Hiro? Hiro come in."

"Hiro here, what is it?"

"You have Takuto's infrared glasses?" Riki asked.

"Yep, right with me."

"Bring them here."

"What? I'm pretty fond of them though." Hiro said.

He sounded like a child.

"C'mon!" Riki shouted.

"Yeah, yeah…" Hiro said. "Leader… wait! The targets back."

"What'd you say?"

"And she has a man with her. They've entered the building."

"Damn it. We'll have to get out of here." Riki said.

"But how?" I asked.

"We'll have to jump off the balcony."

"Wait what? Please be kidding." I said.

We were six floors up!

"Kenshi, take care of Faye." Riki ordered.

"Got it." Kenshi said.

"Target got on the elevator… you need to get out there." Hiro said.

"Let's go." Riki said.

He and Takuto went first.

"Elevator is on the 4th floor, 5th floor.." Hiro continued.

"Let's go." Kenshi said and pulled me towards the window.

"No I can't." I said and pulled back.

"What? Why?"

"I don't like heights. I can't." I said.

I stared out to the balcony, I'd rather go to prison then jump out from there.

"Faye, it's ok. I'm here, nothing will happen to you." He said and smiled.

My heart was pounding, I was starting to panic. My legs were fixed into place and I could move.

"We won't make it, in here." Kenshi said

He quickly closed the balcony door and grabbed my arm and lead me to the closet. It was so small, I was pressed up against Kenshi as we struggled to both fit inside.

"Kenshi, what's up?" Riki said through the ear piece.

"Sorry, we couldn't get out. We're hiding in the closet." Kenshi said.

"And the target?"

"Not in the bedroom, probably still in the living room."

"Got it. Apparently the guy with her is drunk." Riki said.

"Which means…"

"Hiro's coming within ten minutes. Run away while he stalls the target."

"Got it."

"Kenshi, I can't. You can't make me jump off the balcony. I won't be able to do it. I just can't!" I said and frantically shook my head.

"Hey, we don't have a choice and trust me, I won't let anything happen to you." He said and pulled me into a tight embrace.

"I don't think I can, just leave me here." I said.

"Don't be silly, I won't leave you here. Look, just focus on me ok." He said and stroked my hair soothingly.

I took several deep breaths to try and calm myself. There was no other choice but if Kenshi was with me, things should be ok. Right? My hands wouldn't stop shaking.

Oh my god, you've survived a bomb. You can survive jumping off a balcony. I said to myself.

With Kenshi's strong arms around me, I started to relax.

"What? You're going to bed already?"

Oh no! That was Nahomi's voice. I could hear her from the living room.

"Hey! Answer me!... Kyaa! Ohh hey! Don't touch me there so suddenly! Haha…. Mmmm…. Mmm I can't take it anymore.."

"Oh my god, they're having sex!" I whispered to Kenshi.

He just nodded and his face was turning bright red.

The doorbell then rang.

"Ugh.. who could that be?" Nahomi said.

DING DONG

"We were just at the good part too!" she said.

Her footsteps grew distant and I heard the front door opening.

"Sorry for the wait, here's your pizza."

That was Hiro's voice.

"It's Hiro." Kenshi whispered.

"We didn't order any pizza!" Nahomi said.

"What? But when I buzzed the entrance downstairs you said 'Come right up'." Hiro said.

"Now, let's run." Kenshi said

I nodded and took a deep breath.

We snuck out of the closet and quietly opened the door to the balcony. We could still hear Hiro talking to Nahomi.

"Wait a second. Haven't I seen you on TV?"

"What, you just now noticed?" Nahomi said.

"Haha! I'm sorry, are you the one who sings that song 'Sparkling under the bed'?"

Kenshi then stopped and froze.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"What are you talking about? How rude! I'm not a singer, I'm an actress!" Nahomi shouted.

"Huh? Are you sure? You're not the one who sings 'Sparkling under the bed?'"

"Faye, look under the bed." Kenshi said. "Hurry!"

I nodded and got down to my hands and knees and under the bed, was a small box. I grabbed it and put it in my pocket.

"Got it." I said.

"Good, now let's get out of here." Kenshi said.

I looked over the balcony and instantly turned away, my whole body was shaking.

"Relax." He said.

He wrapped his arm around me, then took something from his pocket and pressed a button on it. Something unraveled from it.

"A wire?" I questioned.

"Yep. Hold on." He said.

He picked me up before I time to argue and jumped off the balcony. I buried my face into his chest and resisted the urge to scream, I had my arms wrapped around his neck. I didn't dare let go. We were dropping really fast!

I can't take it! I can't take it! I can't breathe! Oh my god we're going to die!

"Safe and sound." Kenshi said as we landed on the ground.

"Oh my god!" I said and pushed myself away from him.

"Haha! You were crying, were you that scared?" he asked.

My whole body was shaking, I took two steps and crumpled to the ground. Everything felt numb, my heart pounded so hard it felt like it could fly out of my chest at any moment.

"I… never want… to do anything… like that again." I said.

He just laughed before scooping me up into arms.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"You can't walk, right?"

"Well yeah.. but aren't I heavy?" I asked.

"Not at all. Actually, you're way too light." He said.

"Uh…. Thanks. I guess…" I said.

He carried me all the way to the van and put me down on one of the seat.

"Here, wipe your face." He said and handed me some tissue.

I wiped my wet eyes and blew my nose.

"Well, calm yet?" he asked.

"My hearts still pounding." I said.

"Why? It's only 6 floors." Riki said.

"Only 6 floors?! Are you kidding me?!"

"Faye, calm down. You'll start crying again." Kenshi said.

"No I won't but I'll end up punching something or someone…" I said.

KNOCK KNOCK

The van door opened and Hiro was stood outside.

"Here I am! Faye, scoot over." He said.

I moved over and he climbed in.

"Thanks for helping us." Kenshi said.

"Sure, did you look under the bed?" Hiro asked.

"I knew that was a code." Kenshi said.

"Of course. Even I knew that she wasn't a singer. Where's the ring?"

"Here." I said and handed him the small box.

"Let's see." Hiro said and he opened the box. "Yep, this is it. Look how it sparkles."

"How did you know it was under the bed?" I asked.

"Because of this…. Ta-da!" he said and pulled out a pair of glasses.

"Oh Takuto's glasses." I said.

"Yep! They're amazing. You can see through walls to find what you're looking for." He said.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

A few hours later,

The guys dropped me off home and I was walking back to my apartment. My body had finally stopped shaking and I had finally stopped crying.

"Faye." Someone said.

I turned around and saw Tatsuro stood behind me.

"Hey, what's wrong? Have you been crying?" he asked.

"Huh? Oh no, I'm fine. What's up?" I asked.

He took a step closer and wrapped his arms around me.

"I know when you're lying, what's happened? It wasn't Mr Yanase was it?"

I sighed and buried my face into his chest, it felt so good to have his arms around me.

"No, honestly it's nothing. What's up?" I said and pushed him away.

"If you say so. I need to talk to you. It's urgent." He said.

"Ok." I said.

We went to our favourite play park as kids.

"This brings back so many memories… we use to swing all the time. Remember?" he said.

"Yeah." I said.

"Why do you look so nervous?" he asked.

"Well you said you had to tell me something urgent." I said.

I hoped this wasn't about the foxes.

"Yeah, I do… I'm just gonna ask you point blank… Riki definitely isn't your boyfriend?"

"No, we're just friends." I said.

"Really?... and you know I'm investigating the Black Foxes." He said.

"Yeah."

"Their latest crime was stealing a painting from a wealthy man. Unfortunately, there was a party at the time so no one saw much. It was the party I saw you and Riki at." He said.

I froze and tried to keep my face calm.

"You seem to know a lot about it." I said.

"Everything I tell you, is off-record. Got it?"

"Ok." I said.

"When I was investigating the black foxes and all of their recent crimes, I came across two troubling names. That name was Riki Yanase and Kenshi Inagaki. You work at Mr Inagaki's restaurant, don't you?"

A cold sweat started to drip down my back. How much does he know? If he knew too much, what would stop the Black Foxes from dealing with him?

"So, you're trying to tell me that Riki and Kenshi are members of the Black Foxes? Don't make me laugh!"

"I'm not positive, but I think it's likely."

"Why?" I asked.

"Finger prints and DNA evidence. Some of Mr Yanase's fingers were found at your museum when it was robbed and at the party. And also footprints. One of the set of footprints was unusual. They were made by boots worn by a firefighter. So then I got a list of all the firefighters in the city and Kenshi Inagki's name was on that list."

Oh my god! He was on to us. What was I going to do?!

"Faye, what's wrong?" he asked. "You look really pale."

"Do I? No I'm fine."

"Really…"

"You have no evidence. One, how do you know that Riki wasn't at a previous exhibition and that's how his DNA and fingerprints got there? Plus he was at the party with me the whole time, so he has an alibi. And about Kenshi, I don't really know him. I assume if you had enough evidence, you would have arrested them both by now instead of just talking to me. So…. I don't believe you."

"Faye-"

"No, I want to go home." I said.

"Ok, I'll walk you back to your apartment." He said.

We walked in silence till we came to my apartment.

"Thanks for talking to me today." He said.

"Sure."

"If you find anything about either Yanase or Iangaki, let me know."

"Ok. I'll see you later." I said and forced a smile before I hurried up to my apartment.

"Faye!" he said and suddenly hugged me.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"You seem upset. I just wanted to hug you again. You hugged me like this once.. before… when something terrible happened and I was about to cry… you hugged me and told me not to cry." He whispered in my ear.

"But now you look like you're about to cry."

"I'm fine." I said.

He gently let me go.

"If you need anything, I want you to come to me. I'll always listen to you, no matter what." He said.

"Thanks but honestly, I'm fine." I said.

"Let's go drinking together with Ranko soon. Ok?"

"Ok, I'd like that." I said.

I went up to my apartment and slammed the door closed. What was I going to do? I needed to tell the guys but then what would they do to him if I told them? But if I didn't tell them, Tatsuro could get them and arrest them and I didn't want that to happen.

I started to pace up and down.

I felt so conflicted.

I didn't get a wink of sleep last night, the next day I had work at Kenshi's restaurant. I still hadn't decided what I wanted to do. I was walking down a hallway when Kenshi came out of his room.

"Yo." He said and smiled.

I stared at him, he was such a good guy and he was my friend. He saved me yesterday when we jumped off the building and Riki helped me when I almost got burnt to death by lasers.

"Kenshi." I said and pushed him back into his room and locked the door.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"Last night, after you guys dropped me off Tatsuro was at my apartment." I said.

"What did he want?" he asked.

I told him everything that Tatsuro had told me.

"Did he say why he suspects me and Riki?"

"Yeah they found Riki's fingerprints at my museum and at the party but it's fine. He's got an alibi. It's you that I'm worried about. Tatsuro said they found firefighter boots prints at Gondawara's mansion."

"Wait, that's ridiculous." He said.

"Why?"

"There's no way I'd wear my work boots on a mission and risk getting found out. And besides, firefighter boots aren't easily worn off-duty."

"But… so that means that Tatsuro was trying to trick me? Maybe he wanted to see my reaction when he told me that they suspected you guys." I said.

"That's probably it. Otherwise, why would he tell you details about the investigation? Even if he's your childhood friend, he's an elite detective."

"Arg! I can't believe this!" I said and started to pace again.

"Damn it. How much does he know?"

"I don't know." I said.

"Maybe he thinks you know who me and Riki are, but if he doesn't know for sure, maybe you can talk your way out of it. But if he knows… you've participated in missions with us."

"Yes I know, I could be arrested too." I said.

"Could you not see him for a while, Faye?" he said.

"But shouldn't I try to find out how much he knows?"

"No, it's too dangerous." He said.

"Yeah but-"

"No buts! Faye, do you really want to find out his intentions? He's important to you right?"

Did he mean that Tatsuro could be in danger if I tried to find out more?

"I'm sorry. I know it's too late, but I'm sorry you had to get involved with this." He said.

"Don't apologise, it's not going to change anything." I said.

The next day, I was sat in the Le Rendard Noir.

"Here's our breaded pork." Boss said and he set a plate down in front of me.

"Thanks." I said.

"Hey, I heard from Kenshi about your detective Friend." Riki said. "He suspects you, doesn't he?"

"Yes."

"I can't believe they suspect not only Riki and Kenshi, but you too." Boss said.

"Riki's not the problem, he has alibis. It's me and Kenshi that are in trouble." I said.

"It's your fault because you and Tatsuro got too close." Riki said.

"I know." I said.

"Anyway, Takkun is working right now to get information. You're not to go near your detective friend until we know more. Got it?" Boss said.

"Yes." I said.

"By the way, I made you a good luck charm to protect you from disasters." Boss said and handed me a charm.

"No thanks." I said and handed it back to him.

"What? Why? It might work."

I gave him a doubtful look.

"It's a stone I found at a shrine at midnight, it's imbued with the power of the moon."

"Boss, enough with the nonsense. We need to give her the reward." Riki said.

"Reward?" I asked.

They must mean the money we got from the mission.

"Yeah."

"I want to donate the money to the Lily Centre." I said.

I knew Kenshi donated his half but I never expected to get anything from the mission.

"What, you too?" Boss said.

"Yes." I said.

"The Lily center is pretty popular. This time, everyone's money they made on this mission is going there." He said.

"Really? Even the others?" I asked.

"Yeah, everyone gave theirs to the center too."

"Why?" I asked.

"Because that's why we did the mission." Riki said.

"But if we were to tell Kenshi that.." Boss said.

"He'd get mad, because he doesn't want to do missions just for money. He wants to steal for the greater good." Riki said.

"Kenshi's surprisingly hard-headed, you know." Boss said. "You can't tell him about this, ok?"

"I won't. You know… when I first met you guys I thought you were all such jerks but… you really are great guys."

"Of course we are." Riki said with his normal arrogant smile.

I couldn't help but smile. I put my fork down and walked around the table so I could hug them both. They both gasped but happily hugged me back.

"You guys are all so great!"


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

It was Saturday, I hadn't seen any of the guys since Monday, I had been avoiding Ranko and Tatsuro to the best of my ability. I probably won't see any of the guys till the next mission, we still had my gramp's third painting to find.

I was sat in my apartment relaxing on my bed, I just wanted to forget everything that was happening lately. All I needed to do was get my Gramp's stuff back and then I could go back to my life as normal.

My phone then started ringing.

"Hello?"

"Why haven't you come around lately?" Takuto asked.

"Oh hey Takuto."

"I haven't seen you all week. What's happened?"

I sat up "Nothing… it's just everything with Tatsuro I thought it best to keep a low profile."

"Hmm.. well, you should come over sometime. It's boring here without you. That's what Boss said, anyway." He said.

"Haha. Ok, I have been craving pork noodles." I said.

"Great."

"I'll see you later." I said and hung up.

I sighed and smiled, most of the time Takuto was such a jerk but sometimes he could be nice.

I decided to take a bath before changing into my pajamas and stretched out onto my bed.

DING DONG

"Huh?"

"Lala's Delivery Service!"

Lala?

"I've brought your order."

I opened the door and saw Takuto stood there.

"Here are your pork noodles." He said and held up a bag.

"Hey, come in." I said confused.

He set down two bowls of pork noodles on my desk.

"Why are you here?" I asked as I closed the door.

"You said you've been craving them, right? So I brought some for you." He said.

"Really? Thank you." I said and sat next to him.

Truth be told, I had been dying for some company.

As we ate the noodles, Takuto looked around my room.

"Looks like a poor person lives here."

"Well excuse me, I am poor!"

He then started coughing.

"That's what you get for being mean." I said.

He continued to choke so I hit him hard on the back.

"Better now?" I asked.

"Yeah… hitting me way too hard, as usual."

"I did it on purpose this time." I said with a cheeky smile.

He looked at me and matched my smile.

"You finally smiled."

He had a really kind smile, it was weird seeing him this way.

"You have a ton of art books, huh?" he said. "What's this one?"

"A book about Leone Battista Alberti's architecture."

"Alberit?"

I showed him all of the various buildings, paintings and sculptures and we talked about that for a while.

"You really do love art. Have you always?" he asked.

"Yeah I guess. I would spend hours in Gramp's work shop. He use to take me to museums all the time." I said. "I just love art so much, that's why I wanted to work in a museum."

"It's sounds nice to want to be with something just because you love it." He said.

"What does that mean?" I asked.

He was silent for a moment before he looked up at me.

"I was just thinking, maybe talking to girls isn't so bad." He said.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, I'm going home now. I just came to give you hat food, anyway." He said and stood up.

"Well thank you for the noodles. You really cheered me up, with everything that's happened I've been feeling kinda down."

"Feeling better now?" he asked and gently patted my head.

Oh great, now he was doing it. Why did everyone insist on patting my head? It made no sense.

"Yes, thank you. You're a good friend." I said.

Just as he was about to leave, his phone rang.

"Text from Rikki." He said.

Just then my phone rang as well.

"I got one too. It says, 'got some info on the 3rd painting. Meet a LRN.'"

We both exchanged glances. I quickly got changed and we went to the bar together.

"You two were together?" Riki asked.

"Yeah, I ate pork noodles at her house." Takuto said.

"He was just trying to cheer up. With the whole Tatsuro situation." I said.

Riki just nodded.

"Why'd you call us here so late, Riki?" Hiro asked.

"Sorry about that. I wanted to tell everyone ASAP." Riki said.

He then explained the information he'd received about the third painting.

"According to my information, the third painting will be sold in a black market auction tomorrow."

"Tomorrow? So soon?" Boss asked.

"The auction will be held at an expensive hotel in Hokkaido. Only people who have passed rigorous background checks will be allowed inside. There will be guards everywhere around and inside of the hotel. So here is the simulation I've devised to steal the painting."

He opened his laptop and showed us the blue prints of the hotel.

"I'll explain everything in detail."

"Hey, it's been forever since I saw you at Le Renard Noir." Kenshi said to me.

"Yeah well I've been busy at work and stuff…"

I had seen Kenshi every day at work and we would often drink together when I finished my shift before I would go home, but I would always decline to come to the bar with him.

"Does it have something to do with Tatsuro?" he asked.

I nodded "I just think it's best to keep a distance between me and here, incase he's following me or something. I don't want him to get more suspicious." I said.

"That's a good plan. Has he bothered you since?" Riki asked.

"No." I said.

"Good. We have an early day tomorrow, better get some rest." Riki said.

"Ok, good night." Kenshi said and left the room.

"You can sleep in my room." Riki said.

"Oh thanks Riki but… I'd rather go to my own apartment." I said.

I turned to walk away but he grabbed my arm and pulled me back.

"It's too late to go back to your apartment now. Just go to my room and get some sleep, you look like you haven't slept in days." He said.

He was worried about me, I bet all the guys were.

"I'll be fine once we get all of Gramp's work back and when I can stop lying to my friend." I said.

"Hm. Try and get some sleep." He said and left the room.

We had just flown in to Hokkaido.

"Whoa, look at all the snow. Hokkaido is freezing!" Kenshi said.

"Wow, we're staying in that cabin? What a nice place." Boss said.

"Faye, let's have a snowball fight." Hiro said. "TAKE THIS!"

"Huh? Ooh!"

I turned around to speak to him when a snowball hit me square on the face, knocking me backwards to the ground.

He burst out laughing.

"You think this is funny?!" I said as I wiped the snowball off my face.

I scooped up the snow and threw it at him, he ducked and it hit Takuto instead.

"Oops!" I said and tried not to laugh.

He glared at me before silently picking up a snowball and stuffed it down the back of my shirt.

"Ah! Stop it! It's so cold!"

"That's whatcha get for spacing out." He said.

I removed the snow from my shirt and picked up another snowball and threw it at him. This time because I was stood right next to him, I didn't miss.

"Hey!" he shouted but then Hiro then threw a snowball at him.

"Hey, I want to join in." Kenshi said and we all started throwing snowballs at Takuto.

"Hey! Enough! Stop it! Stop!" Takuto shouted.

He was curled up into a ball on the ground, covered in snow. I hadn't had this much fun in ages!

"We didn't come here to play, you guys." Riki said. "Let's go inside and prepare for the mission."

"You're not fun." Hiro said and sulked as he made his way to the cabin.

I followed behind Kenshi, Takuto walked behind me grumbling to himself. He was soaking wet.

"You ok?" I said.

"You, Hiro and Kenshi are so going to pay for this." Takuto.

We all burst out laugh and he started throwing more snowballs so we all ran inside the cabin to get shelter.

Once inside, Takuto had to get changed out of his wet clothes before Riki started the briefing.

"When we get to the hotel, Hiro's going to enter the conference room with a fake ID. Pretending to be a guest. When the painting is up for auction, Takuto's going to cut the light, during which time Kenshi will steal the painting. Boss and Hiro will distract the guards."

"Then I'll give the painting to Riki and Faye and you two will escape on the snowmobile parked by the exit." Kenshi said.

"That's right. The snow is so deep there that a regular car would get stuck. Now, let's make this mission a success." Riki said.

Staying in a lob cabin like this, made it feel kind of like a vacation. Even though it totally wasn't. I was sat outside, sitting under the porch and I was drawing the landscape. It was so beautiful.

"Hey, drawing again?" Kenshi asked.

He sat down next to me and handed me a beer.

"Thanks. Yeah, what do you think?" I asked and showed him my drawings.

"It's really good. Ever think of selling them?" he asked as he took a swig of his beer.

I just shrugged "Never crossed my mind. I don't draw for profit; I draw because it makes me happy." I said and opened my beer.

"Cheers, to a successful mission." He said and we clunked cans before we started drinking.

I just hoped the mission went ok and no more heights. I couldn't handle any more heights.

The next day, we were stood in the hotel where the auction was being held. Armed with his fake ID, Hiro had disguised himself as a woman to infiltrate the auction.

"See you guys later." He said.

"Ok, stick to the plan. Everyone get to your positions." Riki said.

"Roger." Kenshi said.

Everyone besides Riki and me, left the room.

I took several deep breathes to calm myself.

"Nervous?" he asked.

"A little. But I should be fine, as long as there are no more heights." I said.

He chuckled "I can't believe you got so scared from just jumping from 6 floors."

I poked my tongue at him "Whatever."

"You'll be fine, I'm here and I won't let anything happen to you." He said and placed his hand on my shoulder before he ruffled my hair.

"Thanks." I said and smiled back at him.

"Ok, they should be ready by now. Let's get to our post." He said.

"Ok."

"Oh that's right. Do you know what flowering dogwood means in the language of the flowers?"

"No." I said.

"It means, 'Please accept my feelings'."

"Oh, cool." I said.

We hid ourselves next to the hotel exit, and watched the monitor.

"This is a painting by the Genius artist Stone. A rare painting called 'Flower Dogwood'. And now we'll start the bidding." The host said.

"$300, 000."

"We have a bid for $300, 000."

"$320, 000!"

"$330,000."

I shook my head in disbelief "Bastards, bidding over Gramp's work like that."

"Don't worry. I promise we'll get your gramp's painting back." Riki said.

The bids just kept getting higher and higher till,

"$500, 000." Hiro said jumping out of his seat.

A buzz filled the room and everyone looked at Hiro when suddenly, the lights all went out the room plunged into darkness.

"What's going on?" a guess cried out.

Kenshi got closer to the stage, spraying a fire extinguisher everywhere. Within minutes, Kenshi came out of the exit holding the painting.

"I got it!" he said. "Now take it and hurry to our hideout."

"Roger." Riki said.

He put the painting inside a case.

"Kenshi, make sure you get away safely."

"Leave it to me." Kenshi said.

I jumped onto the snowmobile behind Riki and wrapped my arms around his waist.

"Hang on tight!"

The snowmobile raced through the snow at an incredible speed. But after a few minutes I heard two loud gunshots.

"Riki, behind us!" I shouted.

Guards were chasing after us on snowmobilies!

"Damn! I guess they couldn't hold 'em off. Listen to me, don't you dare let go of me."

I tightened my grip around him as the snowmobile started to zigzag in order to avoid the bullets.

"We're jumping across that." He shouted.

I looked over his shoulder "That? You mean that cliff?!"

The snowmobile suddenly accelerated.

"Oh my god. Riki, don't! Don't! Ahhhhhhh!"

We jumped across the cliff with a roar, I buried my face into his back and closed my eyes.

"Good, we lost 'em." He said as he started to slow down.

My heart my pounding and my whole body was shaking. There was no way that this was healthy, my body couldn't stand this much adrenaline.

"Hey, you ok?" he asked.

I was in too much shock speak.

"You're not ok, are you?" he said and we came to a stop.

He then turned around and hugged me softly.

"I'm sorry I scared you but it's all over now. It's not scary anymore." He said and patted me on the back.

I exhaled sharply and took another deep breath.

"Seriously. What is it and you guys and jumping off things? Seriously?!" I demanded and held my arms up in air and looked up as if expecting an answer.

"Hm. You seem fine now, good girl." He said.

He then pulled out a pair of binoculars and peered through them.

"We're pretty far from the log house. But unfortunately the snow and the wind has gotten pretty strong. We need to find a place to rest." He said.

He started the snowmobile and we drove through the storm till he found an old abandoned hut in the mountain.

"There's a fireplace, blankets and towels. We got really lucky." He said.

I walked into the cabin and held my phone up in the air. "No phone signal. Great." I said.

"Really? I'm sure everyone's worried about us." He said.

He then gathered up some firewood and skillfully light the fireplace.

"Oh, that's nice." I said and crouched down in front of the fire and held up my hands too warm myself up.

"Come here." He said and he started rubbing my wet hair with a towel.

"Go away." I said and tried to bat his hand away.

"If you have wet hair, you'll catch a cold." He said.

"Oh sorry mother." I said and he continued till my hair was dry.

He then wrapped a blanket around me.

"Wrap this around you, so you don't get sick." He said.

"Thanks. You're really nice. Kind of like an older brother." I said.

"I am an older brother. I have a younger sister." He said.

"Oh really? What's her name?" I asked.

He suddenly looked away, this was probably a sore subject. I should probably change it.

"Umm… it was pretty amazing what you did with snowmobile." I said.

"Really? I thought it scared you."

"I did! I am never doing that again. How do you guys do such dangerous stuff, and not get so scared?" I asked.

He shrugged "Just use to it I guess. You're one of us, you'll get used to it too."

"I don't think I can ever get used to it." I said and shook my head.

He chuckled again and smiled at me. He was such a nice a guy, when I first met him I thought he was jerk. He would always yell and tell me what to do but, he was actually really nice. They all were. It was just such a shame they were criminals.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

We waited till the snowstorm died down before we returned to the cabin.

"I'm so glad you two are ok." Kenshi beamed.

He picked me up and have me a big hug and did the same to Riki.

"We got caught in a snowstorm, so we had to take shelter in a hut." Riki explained. "But the painting is safe. Takuto, when we get back to Tokyo, I want you to start trying to break the code."

Takuto remained silent.

"Takuto?"

"Yeah I know." Takuto said.

"What's up, Takkun? Spacing out like that. You look pale." Hiro said.

"I'm fine." Takuto said.

"So now all we have to do it figure out where Lady of the Camellias is." Riki said.

"And we're all done." Kenshi said.

When we got all of Gramp's stuff back, I could finally go back to my old life. I couldn't wait.

"Faye, you must be chilled to the bone. Go on and have a bath." Boss said.

"Thanks, I will." I said and walked upstairs.

After my bath, I walked down the hallway and Takuto appeared.

"Can we talk alone?" he asked.

"What about?" I asked.

"Why are you so defensive?" he asked.

"I'm not, I just want to know why you want to talk to me." I said.

He brought me into his room, he just stared at me silently.

"So.. what did you want to talk to me about?" I asked.

"Oww!"

He flicked me on the forehead.

"What was that for?"

"Don't make me worry like that." He said angrily.

I stared at him.

"Don't make me worry like that, idiot." He said and then hugged me tightly. "When I was waiting for you to come back, I didn't give a shit about the mission or the painting. I just wanted you back here safe and sound."

"Takuto, its ok. I'm fine. You can let go of me now." I said and gently pushed him away. "I'm sorry for making you worry."

"Don't do it again." He warned.

I smiled and flicked him back on the forehead.

"I won't."

It had been a few days since we got back from the mission, Takuto was busy trying to solve the code. I was on my way to work at the restaurant.

My phone then started ringing.

"Hello?"

"Hey Faye, how was your holiday?" Ranko asked.

"Really fun." I said.

"Was your boyfriend there?"

"How many times, Riki isn't my boyfriend." I said.

"Really? And why not, he's hot." She said.

I shook my head, she really wasn't going to let this one go.

"Anyway, how are you?"

"Fine, I was wondering if you wanted to come over tonight and catch up?"

"Sorry, I can't. I have work." I said.

She sighed annoyed "Faye what's going? I've got a feeling that you're avoiding me. Is it Tatsuro? What's he done now?"

"No, no no. Honestly, it's just work. Look, I promise I'll call you on my next day off and we'll meet up. Ok?"

"Ok, speak to you soon. Bye." She said and hung up.

I'm so sorry Ranko but as soon as my business was done with the Foxes, we could start seeing each other again.

"Hey everyone!" I said as I walked into the staff room.

Everyone looked very serious.

"Is something wrong?" I asked.

"There was a guest in the Camellia room who said he wanted to buy the restaurant." Gen said.

"Really? Who?"

"Some guy. He said he wants to redevelop this whole area and he's offered Mrs Ianagaki a ridiculous sum of money." Gen said.

Could it be that guy I saw before, the one who kissed my hand? He looked like he had a lot of money.

"Really?" I asked.

"Yeah, I heard them talking about it when I went in there." Wakana said.

"Who was it?"

"The foreigners that came lately." She said. "They're from some investment firm from Hong Kong or America."

"But urban development, doesn't that mean they'll tear down the restaurant?" a waitress asked.

"Well, it's possible we could move to another location. But we'd have to cease operation here. They want to build a trade center or something here." Wakana.

It had to be that guy from before, it just had to be!

The door to the staff room then opened and Satoko came in.

"What are you all doing?" she asked.

"Mrs Inagaki." Everyone gasped.

"It's almost time, is everyone ready?"

"Mrs Inagaki, are you going to sell Kikufuji?" Wakana said bluntly.

Satoko was taken back but her sudden outburst.

"Is it true those guys are going to be buy it and tear it down?" A waitress asked.

"I won't let them." Satoko said.

"Really?" Wakana asked.

"Of course. I don't care how much money they offer me."

"Mrs Ianagaki!" Wakanan beamed and looked relieved.

But I couldn't help but look at Satoko, she looked very pale. I followed her out of the room and called after her.

"Are you ok? You look pale." I said.

"Don't worry, I'm just worn out." She said with a smile.

"But-"

"Can you take a beer to the guests in the Cherry Blossom room?" she asked.

"Sure." I said and nodded.

Was she really just tired? I hoped that she was ok.

I went into the kitchen to get the beer when Kenshi greeted me.

"Yo." He said.

"Oh hey. Back already?" I asked.

"Yeah, I worked today so I came home to eat dinner." He said. "So, what's up? You look upset."

"I'm worried about your mum."

"What about her?"

"She's been really pale and tired." I said.

"Yeah, I heard she really got into it with the guys from Shisei Corp."

"Shisei Corp?"

"The foreign company that wants to turn this area into a shopping mall." He said. "Some really annoying guys are backing them."

"Really?"

"Damn that Sean…"

"I knew it was Sean." I said.

"Huh?" Kenshi gasped and suddenly looked worried.

"Yeah I met him a couple of weeks ago and he told me about his plans but I didn't think he meant this place." I said.

"Wait. How do you know Sean Kim?"

"I waited on him when he dined here the other night." I said.

"What? But you were supposed to be off work that night Sean Kim came here!"

Why did he looked so worried?

"Your mum was short staffed so I offered to help out. What's the problem?"

"Damn it."

He then grabbed my arm.

"You're leaving."

"What? Why?" I asked.

"Go to Le Renard Noir, don't come back here for a while."

"No wait, tell me what's going on." I said and refused to be moved.

"I'll explain later, let's go." He said before he dragged me out of the restaurant.

We arrived at the Le Renard Nori and everyone was already waiting for us.

"So you met Sean Kim, Faye?" Boss asked.

"Yes. Would someone mind explaining what's going on?"

"That's not what you told us Kenshi." Riki said angrily.

"I'm sorry. Faye was scheduled to be off the day Kim came, so I assumed they hadn't met." Kenshi said.

"Damn it." Boss said.

"First the detective, now Sean Kim." Riki said and sighed heavily.

"What is going on here? Why wasn't I suppose to meet him?" I asked.

Everyone all looked at each other with troubled looks on their faces.

"Should we just tell her?" Takuto said.

"Tell me what?"

"Takuto." Kenshi said.

"This is as good time as any." Takuto said.

"I agree, I think we should tell her." Hiro said.

"Tell me what?! Seriously." I said and looked at Kenshi for an explanation.

"Let me explain." Boss said. "Faye, how well do you know Sean?"

"I just spoke to him for a few minutes, I know what he looks like but that's about it." I said.

"I see. Actually Sean is an urban developer. But he's also a big wig in the Hong Kong mafia. And the leader of a group of thieves." He said.

"The mafia and thieves?"

"Originally he was just active in Hong Kong." Riki said.

"But the mafia boss took a liking to him and he's become very successful." Hiro said.

"He steals all kinds of things but he does a lot of ridiculous things, regardless of expense." Riki said.

"He's a bad guy." Hiro said.

"Right… and what does that have to do with me?"

"Sean has his eye on something very valuable here in Japan. Blueprints your great-grandfather created." Boss said.

"Blueprints? To build what exactly?"

I could think of only one thing a mafia would want blueprints for, some kind of weapon. But gramps wouldn't make something like that.

"Nuclear weapons." Kenshi said.

"What? Please be kidding." I said.

"He's after the plans for nuclear weapons that your great-grandfather made." Kenshi said.

"No! No! Gramps would never make something like. Never! You're lying or your info is wrong."

"Kenny, you're leaving out something important. It sounds like you're saying her great-grandfather had planned to make nuclear weapons." Takuto said. "He wasn't trying to make nuclear weapons. He was trying to make a source of energy."

"What we call nuclear power plants today." Kenshi said.

"But he didn't create the plans with today's technology. Keep in mind this was during the early 1900's. The first nuclear power plant wasn't actually built until after world war II. So he thought of it first." Riki said.

"So your gramps entrusted those blueprints to the future. He thought someday, someone will make these plans a reality. He had such high expectations." Boss said.

"But as time went on and science and technology progressed those blueprints took on a different meaning." Kenshi said.

"Someone realized that you could make a weapon out of them?" I guessed.

"Yes, very powerful ones at an extremely low cost." Kenshi sad.

"So it's rumored that the government has kept the plans hidden in a certain location." Boss said.

"And that's what Sean Kim is after? But what does that have to do with me?" I asked.

"You need a special key in order to access the plans." Takuto said.

"But Sean doesn't have the key yet." Hiro said.

"Right ok, so let's track down the key and destroy it." I said.

"The key is your fingerprints." Takuto said.

"What? No way!"

I stared down at my fingertips. Seriously, all my fingertips seem to do was get me into trouble.

"It's true. When he first met you, Sean and his team had already known about you for some time." Kenshi said.

"The employment agency your registered at, the museum, your address. There's evidence they knew all of that." Takuto said.

"So that's why we brought you here." Kenshi said.

"And the reason you made me quit my job?" I asked and looked at Boss.

"We knew he was going to see you there and try to kidnap you." Kenshi said.

He then took hold of my hand and stroked my fingertips.

"We want to get those plans and we need you to help us." He said.

"I'm not going to tell you that you have no choice this time. We want you to choose." Riki said.

"Riki… guys.." I said.

Everyone was looking at me.

"Before I decide, once you get the blueprints, what will you do with them?"

"Give them to you." Riki said.

"They were your great-grandfathers, they belong to you." Kenshi said.

I nodded "Let's do this, I want to find these blueprints and destroy them." I said and everyone smiled.

It was decided that I was going to stay at the Le Rendard Noir for a while, on the second floor. Riki offered me his room again but I couldn't kick him out, I was going to be here for a while so I took one of the spare rooms.

"Kenshi, I can carry my own bags." I said.

He was dragging my suitcases up the stairs for me.

He was trying to make up for the fact that I had met Sean. Even though I had told him not to worry about it, he was insistent that it was his fault that I had seen Sean. He was being really nice to me.

"It's fine, just let me carry them." He said.

"Kenny, can you carry my laptop too?" Takuto said.

"Do it yourself." Kenshi said.

"So mean.." Takuto grumbled.

Everyone was going to temporarily live here, just until we could find the blueprints and destroy them. I couldn't believe they were all doing this just to protect me.

"Faye, this is mine." Takuto said as I walked over to the first best I saw.

"Oh ok." I said.

"What are you Takuto, a child?" Kenshi said.

"We gotta have rules if we're gonna live together." Takuto said.

"Takuto's right, we have to be strict if we're all going to live together." Riki said.

"Faye, I got you some pink sheets." Boss said.

"Thanks…"

"These will increase your luck in love." He beamed.

"I don't need luck in love, thank you." I said.

"Don't worry, here's a pink pillow case to give you even more luck love!"

"Why do you care so much about my love life?" I asked.

"Because.."

"'Cuz you look like the type who really needs it." Takuto said who was smiling.

"Oh really?" I asked and looked at Boss.

"No! It was just a show of encouragement." Boss said.

"She doesn't need luck in love." Kenshi said.

"Yeah. There has to be a guy somewhere who'll love a girl like Freya." Boss said.

"Enough nonsense." Riki said loudly. "How did Sean seem when you spoke to him Faye?"

"Um…"

"He probably flirted with you, right?" Boss said. "Let me guess, he called you beautiful?"

"He said that to you?" Kenshi asked.

"Guessed right, huh?" Riki said.

"Even though it was a lie, you must've been happy." Takuto said.

"Kind of but to be honest, he was a bit full on. Kind of creeped me out a bit." I said.

"Not use to a guy's affections?" Takuto said with a smirk.

"Poor thing. I guess we should be nicer to you." Riki said.

I rolled my eyes and sighed, they were so annoying and now I was living with them!

"My specialty is seduction. Damn that Sean for copying me." Boss said.

"Do you know him?" I asked.

"Both their great-grandfathers knew each other." Kenshi said.

"I heard he's trying to take over to take over Kikufuji? That means he must think the blueprints are somewhere in that area." Riki said.

"Probably. He's probably going to search everywhere under the guise of urban development." Boss said.

"He's inefficient, as usual." Takuto said.

"Yeah, but what do they care? Even if they don't find it, if their development succeeds, they'll still make money." Boss said.

"He sounds like a right scumbag." I said. "I don't want Kikufuji to get torn down."

"Faye." Kenshi said.

"Yeah." Riki said.

"Me either." Takuto said.

"I don't want that either. So we need to hurry and find those plans to make them back off." Boss said.

"But where would the plans be?" Kenshi said.

"Most likely a government facility, probably the ministry of defense or the ministry of foreign Affairs or science and technology." Takuto.

"Faye, do you have any idea?" Riki asked.

"I don't know." I said.

"Yeah, if you think of anything let us know." Boss said. "Even if it seems small, it could be a hint."

"I will." I said.

"Ok, I'm going home." Kenshi said.

"Thanks for helping with my stuff." I said.

"Sure, later." He said and left.

A few hours later, I was led on one of the bunk beds but I couldn't sleep. I just couldn't stop thinking, I was trying to remember anything that could help us.

I turned over and grabbed my phone, I really wanted to talk to Tatsuro but he wouldn't understand plus it's not like I could tell me what I was doing. I decided to get up and go for a walk. I went downstairs and sat on one of the tables and made myself a cup of tea.

I was surrounded by people yet I felt so alone, confused. I just wanted things to get back too normal. I wanted to be able to leave my house and have a normal day, spend time with my friends and go to a job that I love.

I stayed downstairs for a few hours and then went up to bed and finally managed to get to sleep.

"Why can't I keep playing here, Gramps?" I asked.

"This park is for soldiers. You can't play here." Gramps said.

A white fence was in the park, I was running up and down whilst Gramps tried to control me and get me to stop.

"But I want to play with the clay." I said.

"You can't."

"Noo! Clay! Clay!" I shouted and started to jump up and down.

"Lunch." Someone said loudly and I felt someone shake me awake.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

I opened my eyes and saw Takuto stood over me.

"Oh morning." I said.

"Lunch is ready, hurry up and eat it." He said and left the room.

I looked at my watch, it was already 2pm. I can't believe I slept in. I quickly got changed and joined everyone downstairs.

"Sorry I overslept." I said.

"It's fine, I'm sure you're worn out. Anyway, lunch hours are over now so go ahead and take your time to eat." Boss said.

"Thanks." I said and sat down.

I was starving.

After I had finished eating, I told them about my strange dream.

"Clay huh?" Kenshi said.

"Anything else?" Takuto asked.

"Yeah, I was in a park for soldiers or something like that." I said.

"Soldiers park?"

"Yeah, when I was little there was a park near Gramp's house. A huge park surrounded by a tall fence and there was a room surrounded by a white wall." I said.

"A room? Was there some kind of building inside the park?" Boss asked.

"Yeah but he never let me go inside. I was only ever allowed to play outside. He always said I was never allowed to go inside until I became an adult."

"That might have something to do with the blueprints." Boss said. "Problem is, where is this place? Soliders… soliders…"

"The national guard?" Takuto suggested.

"Most likely." Boss agreed.

"But I've never heard of a national guard park." Kenshi said.

"What about a related facility?" Boss asked.

"In the city, there are garrisons in Ichigaya, Nerima, Jujo, Mishuku."

"Faye, where did your gramps live?" Boss asked.

"On the edge of Roppongi." Takuto said before I could answer.

"The closest garrison would be in Ichigaya." Boss said.

"Ministry of defense." Kenshi said. "The old ministry of defense used to be in Roppongia, right?"

"That's right, over by Nogizaka." Boss said.

"Now it's just a business. That really huge building.."

"Tokyo night town." Everyone said at once.

The blueprints had to be in there but how did we go about obtaining them?

"Takkun. Can you access the database?" Boss asked.

"Piece of cake."

"Kenshi, your friends in the National Guard…"

"We have a class reunion next week. I'll go." Kenshi said.

"I'll call Riki and Hiro. Faye, if you remember anything else let me know."

"Will do." I said.

Kenshi then left the bar but as he left, Hiro walked in.

"Hey Faye, how are you doing?" he asked and sat next to me.

"Hey, I'm fine." I said and smiled at him.

"Boss, Seiko will be here in a minute." Hiro said.

"Who's Seiko?" I asked.

"She works as a hostess in a cabaret club in Roppongi and apparently, she heard something very interesting from a customer." He said.

The door to the bar then opened.

"Hellooooo!" a girl beamed.

She practically burst into the room.

"Seiko, howdy doody!" Hiro beamed.

"Fresh 'n fruity!" she beamed back and they both hugged.

She was really pretty, she had only curly ginger hair that fell just below her shoulders. I looked at her and then at Hiro, they looked very similar. Actually, when Hiro dressed up as a girl he looked almost like her. Were they related?

"It's been forever Atsumu!" she said with a big smile.

"Hey there Seiko, how's it hangin?" Boss said.

"Awesome, my period just ended. Hm? Are you Faye, the girl Hiro's been talking about?"

"Yep, cute isn't she?" Hiro said.

"Nice to meet youuuuu!"

"Likewise… are you two twins?" I asked.

"What took you so long Seiko? Isn't it almost time for you to go to work?" Hiro said.

"Oh my god! I was shopping and totally lost track of time…."

"Are you guys twins?" I asked again but they were ignoring me.

"Oh! Hey, hey what's the word?" Boss asked.

I sighed, it was no use trying to communicate with these people.

"So get this, one of my clients is like a contractor who goes to the ministry of defense all the time. And he said that there's like some secrete door that you can't open somewhere in a ministry of defense building." She said.

"A secrete door?" Hiro asked.

"Yeah, so there's a door and no one can open. Because you like, need someone's fingerprints to open it." She said.

"I bet that's where our blueprints are kept." Hiro said.

"Apparently this rumor has been going on for like ten whole years. But now everyone just thinks it's some urban legend." Seiko continued.

"Ten years, which means that it's most likely in Tokyo Night town and not the current Defense building." Boss said.

"What does Tokyo Night Town have to do with anything?" Hiro asked.

"That's where the old Ministry of Defense building use to be." I said.

"What? For real?"

"Yep." I said.

"Oooh! I gotta go to work. Don't do anything dangerous ok, Hiro?" Seiko said. "Later Atsumu! Faye, we should go out for drinks sometime."

"Uh… sure." I said and smiled at her as she left the bar.

"Seiko's like a hurricane, huh?" Boss said.

"Yeah-"

"Hide Faye!" boss said and pulled me behind the bar and pushed my head down, forcing me into a crouching position.

I heard the door open.

"Hello, are you still serving lunch?"

It was Sean!

"I'm sorry, we stop serving lunch at 2pm." Boss said.

"Oh, don't say that. I will have a fish set, a salmon." Sean said.

"We don't have any. You can't just make up a dish on the menu." Boss said sounding annoyed.

He must really hate Sean, I don't think I had ever heard Boss angry before. He was always so laid back.

"Also, knock off the broken speech. I can tell you're faking it."

"If you say so, Atsumu." Sean said.

"Haha. Long time no see, Sean." Hiro said.

"Oh, long time no see. Nice to see you, Hiro. Have you graduated yet? If you're looking for a job, I'm sure we can find you one at Shisei Corp." Sean said.

"Sorry, I'm still in college." Hiro said.

"What do you want Sean?" Boss said.

"Nothing, I just came to try your lovely salmon lunch."

"Like I said, we don't have one."

"Haha. Well then, I'll have a beautiful girl." Sean said.

What? Did he know I was here?

"Hiro, you're on." Boss said.

"What? You want me, Sean? But I'm not even dressed up yet…" Hiro said.

"If you want to be like that, I'll just take one of her fingers." Sean said.

"Doing dirty work as usual, eh Sean?" Boss said. "Buying up valuable land, searching for your treasure and if things go well, you'll just open the door with a severed finger?"

"If you give her to me in one piece, I won't have to cut off her finger. And if you tell me where the blueprints are I can stop buying up all the land, too." Sean said.

He was such an asshole!

Boss was silent.

"Whatever, when it comes down to it. I'm going to take her by force anyway."

"Why don't you give it a try?"

They both started glaring at each other.

"Whoa, you two are scary." Hiro said and laughed.

"If you don't have any salmon, I'll have to say goodbye for now. Because I have to hurry up and buy all the land around here." Sean said.

"Haha. You do that, be careful not to get attacked in the middle of the night." Boss said.

"You're right. I need to especially careful of your little fireman. I heard the owner of Kikufuji collapsed due to a nervous breakdown."

What?! Oh no!

"What?!" Boss shouted.

"See ya." Sean said and I heard the door slam shut.

"What was that about Kenny's mum collapsing?" Hiro asked.

"First I've heard of it." Boss said.

"We should call Kenshi." I said and got out my phone but he didn't answer.

That night,

"I took down the open sigh, Boss." I said.

"Thanks." Boss said.

Since I had nothing else to do, I decided to help out in the bar.

"I can clean up from here Faye. Go ahead and rest."

"Thanks." I said.

I started to head upstairs when my phone started ringing.

"Hey Kenshi." I said.

"Hey, sorry I just saw that you tried to call me."

"It's ok, how's your mum?" I asked.

He didn't answer.

"Kenshi?"

"So you heard that she collapsed?"

"Yeah, is she ok?"

"Yeah, they're just going to run a few tests tomorrow. She told me she was fine and asked me to leave." He said.

"Good, I'm glad she's ok."

"I was really shocked. Right after I ate lunch I came home and found her on the floor. But don't worry, everything's fine."

"Good and are you ok?" I asked.

"Yeah, but mum's the one who collapsed so…"

"Yeah but-"

"Haha. Don't worry so much, talk to you later." He said and hung up.

"Well?" Boss said.

"He says he's fine. His mum is fine, they're going to run some tests but they think she will be ok." I said.

"Good, I'm glad." He said and smiled.

Kenshi didn't sound ok, his voice was trembling. I bet he was really scared, it's scary seeing someone you love in hospital. But what could I do, other than be there for him when he needed me?

"Anyway, I'm gonna go to bed." I said and went upstairs.

The next evening, there was another mission meeting.

"Kenny and Hiro aren't here yet." Takuto said.

"They'll be here soon. Tell me about the blueprints. Did you really find them?" Riki asked.

"Yeah, this is a map of Tokyo Night Town. And I think the blueprints might be here." Takuto said.

"What is this building?" Riki asked.

"Dunno, but the Ministry of Defense still holds the deed to it. So if we match it to the info Seiko gave us, it seems the most suspicious."

"Why don't you check it out tomorrow Faye?" Riki suggested.

"Ok." I agreed.

The door then opened and Hiro and Kenshi walked in.

"Sorry we're late." Hiro said.

"Sorry." Kenshi said.

"Hurry up and sit down." Riki said.

They both sat down, I turned to Kenshi.

"How's your mum?"

"She's ok." He said but he didn't say anymore.

"We think we found where the blueprints are hidden." Riki said. "So I want someone to check it out with Faye tomorrow."

"I'll go." Kenshi said.

"Faye, any objections?" Riki asked.

"No, it's fine.".

The next day, Kenshi and I set off to investigate Tokyo Night Town.

"I think it's this building." Kenshi said.

"It looks like a regular warehouse to me." I said.

"Yeah but does it look familiar?"

"Hmm… the one I went to was much larger. But this use to be one of the offices for the Ministry of defense right?"

"Yeah."

"So maybe when they moved to a new facility they built this warehouse to hide the location of the blueprints. If that's the case, then it would make sense that I don't remember it." I said.

"You have a point. Let's check out possible ways in." he said.

We walked up to the tall fence that surrounded the building.

"There's only one entrance." I said.

"Yeah, looks like an analog lock."

Could this really be the place?

"Faye?" someone said.

I turned around and saw Tatsuro stood behind us.

"Faye and Mr Inagaki, what a coincidence."

"Tatsuro… what are you doing here?" I asked.

"I had some business nearby. I'm glad I ran into you, how about some lunch? I haven't seen you in ages." He said.

"Um… Sorry but I'm busy right now. So I can't. Maybe another time?" I said.

"Don't be like that. I have something to tell you." He said.

I looked at Kenshi who looked suspscious.

"Fine, Kenshi I'll meet you at home." I said.

"Are you sure?"

I nodded before I walked off with Tatsuro.

"This fish soup is delicious. The chef is really good at what he does." Tatsuro said.

"What do you need to talk to me about?" I asked.

"Can't we talk while we eat?" Tatsuro said.

He kept staring at me and he had a sly look on his face. I hoped that he hadn't figured out who I was.

"Tatsuro, just tell me." I said.

Tatsuro then set down his knife and fork.

"Have you heard of the black foxes robbed the actress Nahomi Sahara's house the other day?"

"Yes, I saw it on TV." I said.

"We found some hairs in our investigation but what really intrigued us is a very long hair we found." He said.

A long hair? Mine?!

"Ms Sahara only invites close friends to her home. And among all of her friends, not a single one of them has hair this long. We're treating the owner of this hair a suspect. But we haven't found this person yet."

He stared at me intently, he knew. But if he knew, why wasn't he just arresting me? Unless he wasn't sure? Was he testing me again.

"I'm sure you're already aware of the information we have on you and your friends and thier actions. For example, your friends Mr Yanase and Ingakai. And the only reason they haven't been arrested is because the top brass put a stop to it. So I'm guessing they must have friends in high places."

He must mean Boss.

"But don't think that's going to stop us forever. Because an 'outsider', let's say, could easily continue the investigation without worrying about pressure from higher ups."

"You mean the FBI?" I said.

"Yes, if they get involved all the rules change. And the first person they're going to arrest will be you. So if it's going to come down to that, I want to be the one to arrest you first." Tatsuro said.

I sat back and tried to remain calm.

"What proof so you have that I'm a Black Fox?" I asked.

"Here."

Tatsuro then showed me a plastic bag containing a hair.

"Is that mine?" I asked. "How did you get it?"

But then I remembered how he hugged me outside my apartment. He practically grabbed me.

"You used me?!"

"Don't get angry Faye, I'm just doing my job." Tatsuro said.

"So, what are you going to do with my hair?" I asked.

"Do a DNA test on it, which I'm sure will match the hair we found in Nahomi Sahara's house. It'll be enough proof for us to bring you in and I know you won't lie to us. You've always been a terrible liar."

He gazed at me steadily.

"What do you want Tatsuro? If you really wanted to just lock me up, you would be arresting me right now." I said.

"I want you to stop getting involved with their activities, before you get hurt. If you get caught, your life will be over. You'll never be able to work in a museum again."

"I don't have a choice, you don't understand." I said.

"Then make me understand." He said.

"They're helping me get Gramps' work back. Some bad men stole gramps' paintings that belong to me and the guys are helping me get them back. And… mafia are after one of gramps' inventions and if we don't stop them, many innocent people will die."

He widened his eyes in shock.

"Faye, tell me everything you know and I can help you." He said and placed his hands over mine.

I pulled them away.

"No, this is something I have to do. If you want to help, stay out of our way. As soon as we stop the mafia and get gramps' work back, I promise I won't go near the Black Foxes ever again."

Tears started to roll down my cheeks.

"These last few weeks have been unbearable, I've missed you and Ranko so much. I just want my life to go back too normal."

"Faye, you don't belong with the Black Foxes. They'll only put you in danger and I can't allow that." He said.

"The only way to stop me is to arrest me." I said.

I held out my wrists ready for handcuffs.

"Faye…"

"Go on, if you really want to stop me then arrest me. Go on!"

He looked away and didn't say anything.

I pulled my wrists back "Tatsuro, just let me finish what I've started. You can arrest me or do whatever you want to me after."

I then stood up.

"And FYI, the Black Foxes are good guys. They steal for the greater good."

"Good guys? They've put you in danger several times. As long as what they're doing is a crime, and as long as I'm a detective I can't possibly let them go."

"And as long as my Gramps' work is being abused and not appreciated, I can't stop till I have everything of it back. They belong to me."

I turned around and stormed out of the restaurant. Tears were still rolling down my cheeks, I wiped them away and started to make my way home. What was I going to do? Tatsuro knew who we were but he hadn't arrested any of us yet. Maybe he wasn't our enemy after all?

"What's wrong Miss? Are you sick?"

"No I'm fine."

I turned around and saw Sean stood next to me.

"You're going to ruin your pretty face if you keep crying like that." He said.

"You! Get away from me." I said and started to step away from him.

"Let's go rest for a while." He said and grabbed my wrist.

"Let go of me!" I shouted and started to struggle.

God he had a grip like iron.

"Here, wipe your face with my handkerchief."

Suddenly, he covered my mouth with a white handkerchief.

"Get off me!" I shouted and punched him in the face.

He released my wrist and I started to run but then my legs started to become heavy, I started to sway as I struggle to keep my balance before I collapsed onto the floor.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

"Mmm…" I mumbled as I started to regain consciousness.

"You're awake."

"Sean?" I said as my vision slowly blurred into focus.

My head pounded, I felt like I had the worlds worse hangover.

"I've never seen those drugs knock out a person for 5 hours." He said.

I sat up and looked around, I was tied up on a bed in some kind of hotel room. My hands were chained to the back of the bed.

"Where am I? Let me go!" I shouted and tried to pull my hands out of the chains.

"It's no use, your hands are tied together very tightly. Now you can't run aw-"

With one movement I kicked him hard in the stomach causing him to double over and cough.

"Ohhh. You're a wild one, huh? How dare you kick me."

"Let me go or I'll kick you again!"

"No, I can't let you do that. Because I need you to open your gramps invention for me."

"What? You have it?" I asked.

He smiled "Not yet but I will. It's being sold in auction day after tomorrow so, I need you to stay here till then."

"But how? We thought it was in the old-"

"Ministry defense building? Yes I saw you and that fireman checking out the building. I had my man investigate but unfortunately, someone got there before we did. The blueprints are inside a small box that can only be opened with your fingerprints. So, I will buy it from the auction and use you to open it."

"I will never help you."

He chuckled "Do you really think you have a choice? But if you won't cooperate, I could always just take one of your beautiful fingers instead?"

He then grabbed a knife from a nearby table, pinned my left hand down against the bed and placed the knife against my index finger.

"No! Please don't!" I shouted and tried to push him away.

"Good girl, if you behave you might get out of this alive." He said with an evil grin on his face.

"If it wasn't chained up, I'd kick your ass."

"Hm. I bet you'd at least give it a try." He said as he placed the knife back on the table.

Someone then knocked on the door.

"Ooh, room service already. Just what I'd expect from the Shisei Hotel." He said and walked towards the door.

What was I going to do? I was helpless.

He opened the door and I could hear someone speaking Chinese. Wait, it sounded like Hiro. The person then came inside and I was right! It was Hiro dressed in a hotel costume.

He was mouthing something at me.

(Ken with me)

Kenshi was here to? I sighed with relief, I was getting out of here.

"The fruit has arrived, my beautiful girl. Let's enjoy it together." Sean said.

He sat down next to me and brought over a tray of fruit.

"Come on, open your mouth." He said.

What was he doing? He was the weirdest mobster or whatever I had ever met! But Hiro and Kenshi were here, so I should just play along till they were ready.

"You're going to feed me?" I asked.

"Yes, at least that's what I'm trying to do." He said.

"Not like that…. How about a more…. Direct method… like with your mouth?" I suggested and gave him my best sexiest smile.

Ugh! I think I might be sick.

"Oooh! You're bold, aren't you, my Japanese beauty? I'd be glad to."

He placed a piece of fruit into his mouth and leaned against me. I then saw someone move behind him in the shadows, it was Kenshi. Kenshi jumped out and knocked Sean out with a swift punch to the head, Sean instantly fell to the floor unconscious.

"Hiro, carry him to the bathroom." Kenshi ordered.

"Roger." Hiro said and started to drag Sean into the bathroom.

"I have never been so happy to see you guys in my life!" I said and sighed with relief.

"Are you ok?" Kenshi asked as he started to get the chains off me.

"Yeah thanks."

"Faye, here are your shoes." Hiro said.

"Thanks."

Once the chains were removed, I slipped my shoes one and stood up from the bed.

"Let's head to the balcony." Hiro said.

"What? You're going to make me jump off another balcony?" I asked.

"It's the only way out." Hiro said.

Kenshi then scooped me up and jumped straight off the balcony.

"Ahhh!"

"I really, really, really hate you guys." I said as Kenshi helped me walk into Hiro's apartment.

My whole body was still shaking after they made me jump off another balcony. Kenshi had one arm wrapped around my waist, supporting me as I walked. I had one arm over his shoulders and was using the other to hold onto the banister.

"Haha! At least you didn't cry this time." Kenshi said.

"It's not funny. I don't want to jump off any more high things." I said.

Hiro just laughed as he opened his front door.

"Come in, come in." he said.

Riki, Takuto and Boss were already waiting for us.

"Hey Faye, glad to see you're safe." Riki said.

"Thanks." I said.

Kenshi let me go and I sat down to the sofa. Hiro's place was huge and very bright. There was a kitchen and a living room downstairs and then what looked like an indoor balcony that I assumed led to his bedroom.

"It's a been a long time since I've been here." Riki said.

"This place is stupidly large." Takuto said.

"Whoa, you have a zigzag carpet." Kenshi beamed.

"Kenny, it's zebra. Zebra!"

"Hey everyone." Boss said.

"You're here too Boss?" Hiro asked.

"Yeah, Seiko let me in." Boss said.

He then turned to face me.

"Did Sean hurt you?"

"No."

"Good. What happened?"

I told them everything, except for my lunch with Tatsuro.

"And what about your detective friend?" Riki asked.

"Huh?"

"Kenshi said you had lunch with him before you were kidnapped."

"Oh um… He asked me some questions about you guys but I didn't say anything." I said.

"He suspects us?" Kenshi asked.

"Kind of but he doesn't have an evidence so we're fine."

"Does he suspect you?" Boss asked.

"I don't know…"

"You're not a good liar Faye." Riki stated.

"If things really start to get bad, we'll take care of it." Boss said.

"Take care of it?!"

"He's a sharp detective, I'll see what I can do about getting him sent back to America." Boss said.

"No wait. I don't want that." I said.

"We're not trying to punish you here." Riki stated.

"That's right, he's in the middle of training with the FBI anyway, isn't he? He was just forced to come back to Japan because of the extortion case and because they needed more men on our case. So no matter what the circumstances, won't he be happy to return to his training?" Boss said.

"It's going to be important for his career going forward, after all." Riki said.

"That's true but… promise you won't hurt him." I said.

"We won't, at least not for the moment." Boss said.

"Listen, you don't have any room to be worrying about Togoshi. You're the one who might be arrested here." Riki said.

I wondered if they actually cared about me being arrested or if they were worried that I'd give them away?

"It doesn't matter. Because once we've got all of Gramps stuff back and we finish this mission, things will go back too normal and problem solved." I said.

"Do you want things to go back too normal?" Takuto asked.

"Um…." I hadn't really thought about it but I promised Tatsuro so there was no going back.

"Anyway, let's start the meeting. We need to review the mission." Riki said.

"So, Faye's great-grandfather's invention was already stolen from the building?" Boss said.

"Yes, Sean said it was already gone by the time he got there and that it was being sold at an auction day after tomorrow." I said.

"It has to be the Silver dogs. And if Sean is involved, then there's no doubt in my mind that it's them." Riki said.

"Silver dogs?" I asked.

"It's a name of a group of thieves, Sean works with them." Boss said.

"They're scum. The steal valuable works of art and then sell it for profit on the black market. They're on the international most wanted list." Kenshi said.

"Lately, they've been trying to interfere with us." Boss said.

"Like that bomb that went off on one of our missions." Kenshi said.

I remember that vividly.

"Takuto, can you try and locate the auction"? Riki said.

Takuto had already gotten out his laptop and was typing away.

"Got it, there's going to be a black market auction held on a yacht anchored at the south pier." He said and got up a map. "It's going to be held in two days."

"We'll have to do the mission the day before the auction. We want to be sure to get the blueprints first." Riki said.

"Will the target be there the day before?" Kenshi asked.

"From the looks of it, they keep all the auction items on the yacht days in advance of the auction." Takuto said.

"How do you know?" Riki asked.

"The security cameras on the yacht." Takuto said and showed us his computer screen.

"Hiro, you will do a recon tomorrow. Determined the target will be on the yacht, get as much info as we need and then we'll move tomorrow night." Riki said.

"So we're going up against the silver dogs?" Hiro asked.

"We don't have a choice." Riki said.

"Who's going to partner up with Faye?" Kenshi asked.

"I'll take her. You, Hiro and Takuto will stop the guards and the silver dogs." Riki said.

"All three of us? Then who will be backup?" Hiro asked.

"I'll do it this time." Boss said. "Besides the first gate, the security isn't tight on the yacht."

"Yep, the security is ridiculously light. Kinda boring." Takuto said.

"The rest is up to Faye. We won't go easy on anyone who interrupts the mission. Even if that person is your detective friend. Is that ok with you Faye?" Riki said.

Did I have a choice?

"Yes." I answered.

"Then all that's left to do is pray." Boss said.

"Pray?"

"Just pray that he doesn't show up. The gods are kind to cute girls like you. Let's just focus on trying to have as uneventful of a mission as possible. Ok?"

"Ok."

"All right, now we'll get into the specifics of the mission. The entrance is here…"

After the meeting was over, it was decided that I stay over at Hiro's house.

"You must be tired. Well, do you have everything you need?" he asked.

"Yes, the bedroom is huge and it has everything." I said.

He was being really nice and was letting me stay in his room.

"Haha. If you're bored, you should look through my collection in the closet. I have all my disguises in there. If you want, I could lend you my panda costume…"

"Why would I want a panda costume? By the way, thank you for saving me."

"Your welcome! Your one of us, we wouldn't let anyone steal you away." He said and winked at me.

I smiled "That's good to know."

"Anyway, I'm going out for a while."

"Ok, see you later. Be careful."

He waved before he left.

I couldn't believe that I let Sean kidnap me, how stupid could I get? But I had to focus on the mission, once we finished it I could go back to my old life. I should be happy but… I felt kind of sad. The Black Foxes were my friends and we had been through so much and I was one of them. I felt like I belonged here.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

It was the day of the mission; we were sat in the van waiting.

"Faye and I will concentrate on getting the blue prints." Riki said.

"We'll take care of the guards and the Silver dogs." Kenshi said.

"And the donut patrol." Takuto said.

"Takkun, be nice." Boss said. "Ow! That hurt Takkun!"

Takuto just hit him. Why?

"Enough of this nonsense! Let's go." Riki said.

We all got out of the van.

"Tch. Too many people here." Riki said.

"Looks like nothin' but security guards and cops to me." Kenshi said.

"We're going in, do it Takuto." Riki said.

Takuto threw a canister of tear gas towards the guards.

"What the hell?" a cop shouted.

"Now. Go!" Riki shouted.

We all snuck onto the yacht and headed for a staircase. The auction was being held on the fifth floor so the target must be in that room somewhere.

"Over here everyone!" Hiro shouted.

He was wearing a guard uniform and was stood by a door.

"Hurry up. I put all the guards outside the hall to sleep." He said.

Men then appeared from behind Hiro, they were all wearing silver bodysuits. One grabbed Hiro from behind and put him into a full nelson.

"You're the silver dogs." Kenshi said.

"That's right. Now, hand over the girl." One ordered.

"No way! I'd never give up Faye to a bunch of fashion victims like you." Hiro snapped.

"Eat this doggies!" Takuto shouted and started squirting something on them.

"What's this liquid stuff?" one asked.

"It's all sticky.."

"Hey! Takkun, don't squirt it on me!" Hiro said.

More people in silver bodysuits started to appear, one after the other.

"Riki go on! Leave these guys to us." Kenshi said.

"Got it, come in Faye." Riki said and grabbed my hand.

"Ok."

We ran all the way down the stairs, Riki was pulling me along.

"Here, this where the auction will be held." He said as we came to a large room.

There were large stairs that led to different levels of the yacht. We started to go up the stairs,

"I wouldn't go any further if I were you."

We turned and saw Sean stood behind us.

"Keep going Faye." Riki said and continued to pull me up the stairs.

I then heard a loud beeping before the stairs exploded and crumbled to the floor below, taking Riki with it.

"Riki!" I shouted and tried to grab his hand as he fell but I missed and he disappeared out of sight.

"Oh no! Riki! Riki can you hear me?" I shouted.

"It's nice to see you again." Sean said before he wrapped his arm around my neck roughly.

"Get off me!" I shouted and tried to struggle free but he was too strong.

I then felt something cold be placed against my temple.

"I would rather not blow off your pretty little head, but I will if you force me." He said whispering in my ear.

I froze, too scared to move.

"Good girl, now move." He said and pushed me forwards.

He brought me to a large room filled with paintings and other items.

"I never get tired seeing stolen good." He said and laughed.

"If you didn't have a gun, I'd kick your ass."

"Hmm. I bet you'd give it your best shot." He said with a laugh.

He grabbed my arm and pulled me over to a small grey box. Could gramps' blueprints really be in there?

"Open it." He ordered and pushed the box into my hands.

There was a dial on the side of the box, that must be where my finger went.

"Open it." He said again.

I looked up at him and glared at him.

"No."

"I don't need you alive to open the box." He said and cocked his gun.

This was it, I was going to die!

Just as he was about to pull the trigger, the door to the hall opened and Tatsuro stood in the entrance.

"Tatsuro!"

He stared at me in complete shock.

"Don't move Faye." He shouted.

"Wha-"

Tatsuro pulled out his gun and ran towards us as he fired, bullets shoot past either side of me. Before I could react, Tatsuro pulled me onto his chest and fired again.

"Ugh…" Sean groaned in pain.

Tatsuro quickly kicked his gun away that had fallen to the ground by his feet. Over Tatsuro's shoulder, I could see Sean slumped on the ground holding his thigh.

"Are you alright Faye?" Tatsuro asked.

"Yes, thank you." I said.

Tatsuro then looked at Sean.

"It's nice to finally meet you Sean Kim, or should I call you Silver Dog? We've been looking for you for a long time."

"Damn it! I was so close." Sean shouted before he pulled something out of his pocket.

It looked like a remote control.

"I just triggered the timer for a bomb on this boat." He said.

"What? No!" I said.

"My boss won't let me live if I don't bring back that box open. So if I'm going to die, I'm taking you all with me."

"Are you crazy? Where is the bomb?" I asked.

"It's too late." He said before he started to lose conscious in a pool of his own blood.

"Hey. Sean. Wake up! Wake up!" I shouted and shook him violently but he wouldn't wake up.

"Tatsuro, what are we going to do now?" I asked.

I turned to face him, he was suddenly very pale and then he fell to his knees. Blood started to trickle from his thigh.

"Tatsuro, were you shot?"

I ran to his side and caught him before he collapsed to the ground.

"I'll be fine, he didn't hit anywhere vital.. probably."

"Probably?!"

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything…"

"Don't talk, you'll be fine. Come on, get up. We have to run." I said and tried to pull him to his feet.

"No I can't, I can't move." He then grabbed my hand "Listen to me Faye, I want you to get out of here."

"No, what about you?"

"The other guys are going to come in here at any minute, you need to get out of here before then." He said.

"I said no. I won't leave you behind." I said firmly.

I needed to think, if I left him here to find the bomb he could bleed to death so first thing first was I sort out his wound and then go and find the bomb.

"Ok Listen Tatsuro here's what- Tatsuro? Tatsuro? Wake up. Wake up!"

He was now conscious, he was looking so pale and the bleeding didn't look like it was stopping anytime soon.

"Faye! Are you ok?" Riki said through my ear piece.

"Oh my god Riki! You're ok!"

"What's going on with Sean?"

"Tatsuro shot him, he's unconscious. But Tatsuro got shot too."

"Togoshi got shot?"

"You guys needs to get out of here, this ship is going to explode." I said.

"What?!"

"The silver dogs planted a bomb and now it's counting down. They're going to kill everyone."

"Damn it. Faye, I want you to listen to me carefully. Since Sean destroyed the stairs, we can't get to you right away. And even if I could, I can't carry two people. What do you want to do?"

"Me?"

"Yes you! What do you want me to do?"

"Save Tatsuro." I said.

I then heard a loud bleep followed by Boss's voice.

"Faye, I'm sending Kenshi to Togoshi. He'll be able to give him first aid. But I don't know if he'll make it in time. Like Riki said, it'll take time to get to your floor."

"That's fine, just save Tatsuro. I'll go and look for the bomb." I said.

"But, you might not be able to find it. And if you do, you might not be able to disarm it." Boss said.

"You don't know that. I have to try. I will find it and I will disarm it." I said.

"If you're that determined, do as you please. This may not help you but I want you to listen carefully. Riki said Sean used a remote to set off the first bomb, which means the bomb isn't that far away. Because he'd still have to be in range of the signal for it to work. So search the floor you're on now, it must be there somewhere."

"Got it."

"If you find it, contact me immediately, understand?"

"Yes."

I ran through every room on the fifth floor. The casino, the storeroom, the bathrooms but I couldn't find it.

Ok ok, just calm down and think. The silver dogs want to kill people, so they'll pick a place that will have as many victims as possible.

I thought carefully and ran to the kitchen, the bomb was hidden inside the oven. There was only 5 minutes left.

Oh god!

"Boss I found it. It's the restaurant's kitchen." I said.

"Because there's a gas stove in there. If it blows up, there will be a lot of victims."

BEEP

"What does it look like?" Takuto said.

"A digital clock with five wires. There's only five minutes left on the timer." I said.

"Tell me about the wires."

"There are several." I said and explained them all.

"The blue and black are dummy wires. It's not the yellow wire either." He said.

"So that leaves…"

"The red and green. If you cut one of those, the clock will stop." He said.

"But which one?"

"I don't know. But if you're wrong, it'll blow and game over." He said.

BEEP

"It's your decision Faye." Riki said.

Oh god, how did I end up in this horrible situation?

I found a pair of scissors in a nearby drawer and stood in front of the bomb.

"Red or green? Red or green?"

I took a deep breath and cut the green wire with a snap. I held my breath and waited but nothing happened. The clock stopped with only 45 seconds left.

I sighed and collapsed onto the floor.

"Faye, are you ok?" Kenshi asked and he came running into the kitchen.

"Kenshi?" I said and sat up.

"Did you disarm it?"

I nodded.

"All right! Let's get outta here." He said and pulled me to my feet.

"Is Tatsuro ok?" I asked.

"I gave him and Sean first aid, the police helicopter is on it's way." He said.

I nodded.

Kenshi opened the kitchen window and fastened a rope to it.

"Wait, what are you going to make me do now?!"

"We don't have time to argue." He said.

I tried to run away but pulled me into his arms as he rappelled us down onto the deck below.

We somehow managed to get back to the van,

"Sorry we took so long." Kenshi said.

"Faye, I'm so glad you're safe!" Hiro beamed.

"You have the worst luck ever… but I'm glad you're ok." Takuto said and flicked me on the forehead.

"Ow!"

"Why do you enjoy making me worry like that?!" he snapped.

"It wasn't intentional." I said.

"That's everyone, let's go!" Riki ordered.

"Ok." Boss said and floored the accelerator.

I could hear the faint sound of a helicopter approaching the ship.

"Police reinforcements." Riki said.

"Will Tatsuro be ok?" I asked.

"Probably. If he would've been shot a few centimeters to the left, he would have bled out." Kenshi said.

I nodded, that was a relief. I then remembered something and turned to Riki.

"Are you ok? You fell quite far."

"Huh? Are you an idiot? It would take a lot more than that to hurt someone like me." Riki said.

"Haha. Most people would be seriously injured." Kenshi laughed.

I smiled, Riki was arrogant as always.

"I'm just so glad you're ok." I said and wrapped my arms around him.

"Idiot, when are you going to realise who we are?" He asked.

"Probably never, especially since Kenshi made me jump from somewhere high. Again." I said as I let go of Riki.

"Haha! At least you weren't all shaky like last time. You must be getting used to it." Kenshi laughed and ruffled my hair.

"Anyway, what happened to the blueprints?" Riki asked.

"The blueprints? Ohhh!"

"Don't tell me you don't have it with you?!" Kenshi said.

"Are you serious?" Hiro said. "You were in the auction hall, weren't you?"

"Well yeah but I was also shot at and then I had a bomb to worry about." I said.

"Kenny? Did you go to the hall?" Hiro asked.

"I thought Faye had it. I didn't check for sure, but.."

"You've gotta be kidding me, our first mission failure." Takuto said.

"It's all leaders fault, he didn't stay with Faye." Hiro said.

"There was nothing I could do. That damn Sean blew up the stairs."

"I'm really sorry." I said.

"Everyone calm down. We still have a chance to get it. Let's just try harder next time, ok?" Boss said.

After that, I got a text from Ranko telling me that Tatsuro was in hospital. For some reason, she thought that I was on a training course for the museum as her text read; please come visit when you get back.

Ten days have passed since the mission; I was at the Le Renda Noir with Boss.

"Are you sure I don't have to hide at Hiro's house anymore?" I asked Boss.

"Yep, I've taken care of everything and I got your old job back." Boss said.

I smiled "Brilliant, I can't wait. So all we have to do now is find Gramp's painting by using the code of the others." I said.

"That's right. Takuto has been working on the code for the past few days, he should have cracked by now." Boss said.

The door opened and Tatsuro walked in.

"Hey, you're out of hospital." I said.

"Yep."

"Are you feeling ok?" I asked.

"Yeah, the wounds almost healed."

"Good. Look, I'm sorry that I couldn't visit you and I'm sorry that I lied to you." I said.

"You mean about the Black Foxes?"

"Yeah."

"We hid things from each other. You hid stuff about the Black Foxes and I didn't tell you about the case. I even used you to get evidence without your permission. A detective and a thief… we couldn't help it." He said and smiled gently at me.

"I know but still."

"Anyway, here."

He took something out of pocket.

"It's the box." I said.

"This is what you wanted, right?"

"Yeah but… are you sure it's ok?" I asked and took the box from him.

"Ok or not, it belonged to Gramps right? So I'm just returning it to it's rightful owner." He said.

There was a dial on the side of the box. I gently pressed my finger onto the dial and the box opened with a snap. Inside was a folded piece of paper. I opened it up and on the paper were blueprints, just as we suspected.

"What is it?" Tatsuro said.

"It doesn't matter. Boss, burn them." I said and handed Boss the piece of paper.

"Roger." He said and went into the kitchen.

Oh gramps, you never thought that one of your inventions would end up like this. All he wanted to do was help people, not hurt people.

"You really loved Gramps huh?" Tatsuro said and then sighed. "So… it's all for the best this way."

He then stood up.

"Take care Faye."

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"I'm probably going to be returning to America soon. They contacted me last week, it's good timing. So… take care of yourself Faye."

He gently messed up my hair before he left the bar.

He was leaving? Just like that?

"Is this ok with you Faye?" Boss asked.

"It's his choice…"

"If you don't go after him now, he's really going to leave."

I looked at Boss and then dashed out of the door.

"Tatsuro, wait!" I shouted out and ran after him.

"Faye…"

"Don't go please. Why are you going back to America anyway?"

"I don't have a choice. The only reason I came here was to arrest the black foxes and I can't. Not when the woman I love is one of them. She's a sore loser, a cry baby…. And a terrible liar. But she's so kind… she even saved nearly 100 people from a bomb. There's no way I could arrest someone like her."

He then pulled me into a tight embrace.

"You're heart is with the Black Foxes and as long as I stay in Japan, it will be my job to catch them and I can't. I can't do it, not if you're one of them. So promise me, you'll never get caught by anyone… not even me."

Tatsuro…

He was holding me so tightly, almost as if he was too scared to let me go.

I'm so sorry Tatsuro, I'm sorry for not being able to return your feelings and I'm sorry for being a Black Fox. We were always going to be enemies, there was no way around it.

"Faye… please… promise me…"

"Ok, I promise."

We stayed like this for what seemed like forever till he let me go.

"Goodbye Faye." He said and walked off.

"Bye…." I said faintly so only I could hear.

I turned around and returned to the bar, only to find all of the guys there.

"Are you ok Faye?" Riki asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I said and sat down next to him.

"You look like your about to cry." Hiro said.

"Do you love him?" Boss asked.

"Tatsuro? No. It's just… I'm his friend and I've done nothing but hurt him and now I've driven him away from Japan. I'm a horrible person."

"No you're not." Takuto said sharply.

"Takkun's right, all you've done is get your gramps' work back. And you saved a lot of people from being blown up." Kenshi said.

"It's just how it is. You're a thief, he's a detective. You were never going to be on the same side." Riki said.

"I guess you're right. But at least we got the blue prints. Did you burn them Boss?" I asked.

"Yep!"

"So, you didn't screw up the mission after all?" Takuto asked.

"Doesn't look like." I said and smiled smugly at them.

"Did Togoshi give them to you?" Riki asked.

I nodded.

"Anyway, let's celebrate to a successful mission. Oh and Takkun, give Faye your present." Boss said.

"Present?"

"Here." Takuto handed me a piece of paper with what looked like map coordinates.

"What is it?" I asked.

"The location of the final painting." He said.

"Really? Whoa." I said.

So this was it, my final mission.

"Boss…" I began.

"Is this about what's going to happen next once we get the final painting?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Well, we won't need your fingerprints anymore. So you can take your time to decide what you want to do."

"I think you should just come and live in my house forever!" Hiro said.

"Why do you have such crappy taste in women?" Takuto said.

"Says you who's actually secretly in love with Faye." Hiro said.

Takuto then punched him on the shoulder.

"Ow! What are you doing, idiot?"

"You just gave me goose bumps. Gross!" Takuto said.

"Stop fighting you two." Kenshi said.

"Here everyone, drink up!" Boss said and put a tray full of beer in front of us all.

The next day, Riki accompanied me to the address that Takuto had given us. It was an old cottage, deep in the mountains.

"It doesn't look like anyone lives here." Riki said.

"I wonder where Gramps would have hidden the painting?" I said.

We were stood inside the dusty cottage looking around.

"Look, there's a staircase going down to the basement." He said.

The stairs led to a big door with a biometric lock on it. Could the painting Lady of the camellias really be inside?

I gently pressed my finger onto the lock and the door slowly opened.

"It's the portrait of the Lady of the camellias." Riki said.

In the painting, a woman held out her right hand with a smile in a colourful flower garden. Sparkling on her ring finger was..

"That's the ring Gramps gave me."

"They used that ring as their engagement ring." He said.

The woman looked almost identical to me.

'Cherry Blossom', 'Lily of the Valley', 'Flowering Dogwod', 'Lady of Camllias'. Those four paintings tell the story of Gramps and Granny's love.

"There's something written on the back." Riki said. "It says; I'm so blessed to have met you here after ten years. I pledge my eternal love to you."

"So this is where they promised to meet?" I said.

So after ten years of enduring hard times, they reunited here.

"Faye, let's go out to the garden." Riki said.

I followed him back up the stairs, he carried the painting for me.

"It's the same garden in the painting." He said. "My destiny is in your hands'. That's what the camellia means."

I couldn't believe it; we had found all of Gramps' paintings! I was so happy.

"So, what are you going to do now?" Riki asked.

"About what?"

"Are you going to go back to your normal life, or stay with us? You're one of us you know. It'll be hard to go back to a normal life." He said.

I turned and smiled at him "Let's make a deal, I'll stay if you promise not to make me jump off high things."

He laughed "Can't promise that and besides, I thought you were getting use to jumping off high things?"


End file.
